Dust 'n' Bones
by Exile Wing
Summary: When Sakura Haruno is sent out to Suna for eight months of medical aid she resigns herself to a lonely year without team 7 until sparks begin to fly between her and the Kazekage. Meanwhile, the Akatsuki prepare to make their final stand...
1. Hungover and Hungup

Disclaimer: the world and all of the characters herein belong to Kishimoto, I'm just borrowing them to play with for a bit.

Other notes: This is the first in what I plan on being a three or four part series of fan fictions following our pink-haired heroine as she experiences grown-up relationships and learns to love and be loved in return for the first time in a world where violence, war, death and bloodshed is just another fact of life. Hope you enjoy my creation, and feel free to leave reviews and constructive criticism if you think that there's anything I could do to improve.

Rated M for future mature themes (violence, bad language and sex. nothing overly explicit but just in case)

* * *

"Ugh…"

Sakura Haruno groaned as she opened her eyes to the glaring sun streaming through her window. "Damn sun, bein' so bright…how rude!" She muttered to herself. She sat up slowly, holding her hand to her spinning head and waited for the nausea to pass.

"Water. I need water." She said to herself. She glanced at the window as she through the covers off of her legs, then looked at the window again, puzzlement creasing her brow. _I'm sure I shut the curtains before I left last night, _she thought.

"Finally awake, I see."

Sakura turned towards the voice drifting through her closed door. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Can I come in?"

Sakura nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her. "Sure, come on in, I'm decent," She called. _In fact, I think I musta barely undressed before sacking out last night, _she thought, looking down and taking in the creased top that she was still wearing. She looked up as her squad leader and sometime-teacher popped his head around the door frame. There was a smile crinkling his one visible eye.

"Must have been one hell of night," he said, crossing the room and handing her that much-desired glass of water.

Sakura laughed as she gulped the fluid down. "Well, you're only twenty once, right?" She said.

"Mm," Kakashi murmured in agreement. "My, it seems so long ago that I was that age," he mused.

Sakura snorted. "Yeah, like a million years ago, right?"

"Be nice or you'll not get any breakfast," Kakashi replied dryly.

"_You_ made breakfast?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Nope." Even through the mask, Sakura could see Kakashi grinning amiably. "Naruto did."

"Oh yum, Ramen first thing in the morning, there goes my diet," Sakura muttered, sipping her water and squinting her eyes against the sun's glare. "Hey that reminds, were you in here opening my curtains?"

"Yep, I thought, after last night's escapades, you could do with some nice, healthy vitamin D to wake you up." Kakashi chuckled. "The door was still unlocked and when we looked in, you were sleeping like a baby – I'm actually a little surprised at how long it took for you to finally stir."

"How long have you two actually been here?" Sakura asked, a little embarrassed that she'd been so careless to leave her door unlocked and for her team mates to have witnessed her in such a state.

"About an hour, hour and a half," Kakashi replied. "Sai was with us, but he took off about twenty minutes ago to see Ino."

Sai. He had been a member of team Kakashi for about five years now. Once Naruto came home from his two and half year training with the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya and Team Kakashi reformed, Sai had been drafted in from the ANBU division Root to replace Sasuke Uchiha. It had only been supposed to be temporary, as far as Sakura and Naruto were concerned, until they convinced Sasuke to return to them. So much had happened since then, so many lies and betrayals, and fights. So many fights. Naruto still said that he would bring Sasuke back, but Sakura knew, deep down, Naruto felt the same as her – that their former friend and comrade was long lost to them. He was still awkward and lacking in people skills, but Sakura had grown to look on Sai as a very close friend. About four months ago, he had finally got together with Sakura's best girl friend, Ino Yamanaka, who was doing more for his social skills that any book could possibly teach him. Unfortunately, he had replaced them with books on how to maintain a healthy relationship – needless to say that _that _relationship had more than its fair share of rocky patches.

"Grub's up!"

Sakura smiled as a familiar blonde head peeped around the doorframe, inane grin fixed in place. "Come on, get up, lazybones, you'll want it while it's still hot."

"Alright, get out both of you while I dress. And a little less of the 'lazybones' from you, idiot!" She waited until Kakashi had shut the door behind them before throwing her legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up, cautious of room-spinnage and silently blessing Naruto for showing the rare fortitude of thought not to make any sort of dumb or lewd joke about seeing her half-naked.

_Thank the gods that I'm not due in for a shift at the hospital today, _she thought as she dressed and made her way into the kitchen. It was a rare occasion indeed that Sakura ever allowed herself to get completely drunk. In fact, before last night, she could only remember two previous occasions when she'd been drunk. The first time had been when she was eight and Ino dared her to steal a bottle of her mother's sake. They'd both ended puking til it hurt and being grounded for a month. The second time had been another birthday do, this time when Naruto turned eighteen – Sakura stemmed the rush of memories from _that_ particular incident. Neither her nor Naruto ever spoke of it and in fact, the only other people who knew about it were Ino, who had sworn on pain of death, never to repeat it to another soul, and Shikamaru Nara, because Ino couldn't help but let it slip during their 'pillow-talk' – although she claimed that she'd only mentioned it cos she thought the lazy bum was asleep, and Shikamaru had the good sense not to repeat it outside the bedroom.

This morning's hangover was courtesy of her twentieth birthday celebrations the night before. As a treat, Lady Tsunade, the village hokage and Sakura's mentor in medical ninjutsu, had given Sakura the evening and all of today off from work and training so that she could really let her hair down and enjoy herself. As if the sake hadn't been enough, then the sugary concoctions that Ino and Kiba had kept plying her with had certainly finished her off. Sakura giggled, remembering how some of them had really rude names.

"So what type of ramen have you made?" Sakura asked as she stepped into the kitchen. Naruto looked up from placing plates on the table and grinned at her.

"Actually, I didn't make you ramen cos I knew you wouldn't want that."

"What he means is, I wouldn't let him," Kakashi butted in.

"So I made you toast and eggs instead," Naruto finished, sticking his tongue out at Kakashi. Personally, he saw nothing wrong with eating a nourishing bowl of ramen first thing in the morning to wake you up and sustain you until lunch – which inevitably was another bowl of delicious ramen. "There's coffee too, although it's only the instant stuff," he added. "Apparently it's really good for hangovers – or is that to sober you up? Kiba did say but I forget. Anyways, I remembered that working long hours at the hospital has given you a taste for the stuff."

"Mmm, it smells delicious!" Sakura sighed appreciatively as she took her seat. "This is wonderful, Naruto, thank you," she mumbled through a mouthful of toast.

"Ah, it's nothing," Naruto replied, blushing slightly.

"So why are you guys here, anyway?" Sakura asked as she ate. "As far I can remember, we don't have any missions today, and I certainly don't remember and training sessions – unless I agreed last night, in which case it doesn't count, given my incredibly inebriated condition."

"Couldn't this just be a social call?" Kakashi asked, leaning against her counter.

"Naruto, yes. You, no." Sakura said. "Besides, even Naruto doesn't call until at least midday."

"It _is_ midday, Sakura," Naruto replied, laughing.

Sakura froze with a mouthful of eggs raised halfway to her lips. "Oh." She blushed and lowered her eyes to her lap. "I didn't realise I had slept so long."

"Well it's no wonder," Naruto exclaimed. "You didn't actually get home until the small hours of this morning – and that was only cos me and Sai carried you here."

Sakura groaned and put her head in her hands. "Gods, I hope I didn't do anything too embarrassing," she mumbled.

"We-ell…" Naruto began, "The karaoke incident was pretty funny – you really can't sing, can you? And I think Granny Tsunade might want a word with you about those 'old hag' comments." He laughed. "I can't believe you said that she only looks so young cos she uses advanced genjutsu and that her breasts are really only a big pair of water balloons! Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I think I speak for all the guys when I say that the impromptu striptease on the bar was very impressive – I loved the rainbow panties, they were _cute!_"

The entire colour had drained from Sakura's face as sheer horror and embarrassment overcame her. She began to feel light-headed and a little sick as the blood suddenly rushed back to her face, leaving it a beautiful shade of crimson. "Oh gods! I can't believe I did that!" She groaned. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll just go and commit seppuku now, seeing as my life if now officially ov– wait hang on a minute. I don't have rainbow panties. NARUTO, YOU JERK!" She threw the breakfast plate at the blonde idiot's head as he began to laugh hysterically. He ducked the plate, which smashed against the wall, mere inches from Kakashi's head.

"Ah, come on Sakura, it was a joke!" Naruto exclaimed, dodging the bowl that followed the plate. "I mean, you shoulda seen the look on your face – OW!" he yelped in pain as the coffee cup hit it's mark, leaving an angry red mark in the middle of his forehead.

"That was really cruel, Naruto, you really had be going for a minute there!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling a little wobbly with relief.

"OK, ok, I'm sorry," Naruto replied, holding his hands up in front of him defensively.

"Anyway, you never answered my question," Sakura said, sitting back down. She began to feel a little worried when Naruto and Kakashi shot each other guilty looks. "What?"

"Well, the main reason why we're here is because Lady Tsunade would like to see you in her office as soon as possible. She's got a mission for you, apparently, and she wants to debrief you on the particularities before you're due to leave tomorrow." Kakashi explained.

"Wait, you're telling me that you came into my house and sat around for over an hour waiting for me to wake up, just to tell me that Tsunade wants to see me?" Sakura asked incredulously. "It can't be _that_ urgent, or you wouldn't have waited for me to wake up of my own accord so why couldn't it wait until you saw me later? I mean, you know that I'll be stopping by the hospital this evening anyway, right?"

"Well you see, the thing is, we'll be gone by this evening," Naruto said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"A couple of new missions came in this morning," Kakashi explained. "One of them is in the Land of Earth. Our team is due to report to the Tsuchikage in Iwa by Wednesday where we will be briefed on the full details of our duty there and it's a three day journey to get there, so we're due to leave this afternoon to give us plenty of time to reach our destination."

"So why does Lady Tsunade want to see me for if we won't know the full details until we reach Iwa?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, you're not coming on this mission," he said gently, wincing at the onslaught his ears received from Sakura's protestation.

"WHAAAT! Why ever not?" Sakura cried, jumping up, and instantly regretting it as the room began to spin. She made her way over to her medicine cupboard and found the hangover cure pills that she'd made the last time Neji and Tenten had turned up with an intoxicated Rock Lee for her to fix. Swallowing a pill with some water, she turned on her team mates again. "Am I being punished for being drunk last night? Is that why you're not letting me come on this mission, Kakashi? Cos, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the only kunoichi to enjoy a drink – in fact, it's incredibly rare that I even drink alcohol at all, let alone get drunk! This isn't fair, Kakash-" she was cut off by Kakashi suddenly moving from where he'd been leaning against the wall to standing eye to eye with her faster than she had been able to follow and placing his hand across her mouth.

"Sakura, it was not my decision to remove you from team seven for the purpose of this mission. I told you that there were two missions, right?" When he felt Sakura nod against his hand, Kakashi continued. "The reason that you are not coming with us is because Lady Tsunade thinks that you are the only one who can do it. You should think yourself lucky, you're about to be promoted to the rank of tokubetsu for your skills as a medical ninja, from what little the hokage told me."

Sakura's eyes widened and she sagged against the counter behind her. "Oh," she said quietly.

"Yes, 'oh,'" Kakashi said, sarcasm, creeping into his voice. "I have to confess, I'm a little disappointed that you seem to think so little of me that you honestly think that I would punish you just for, for once, getting to act like any normal girl your age. I'm not your father, Sakura, it's not my place to punish you, especially on matters that don't concern your duties as a ninja, and I'm perfectly aware that you are a young woman perfectly capable of making her own choices and that what you do in your free time is entirely up to you. OK?"

Sakura nodded, feeling very foolish about blowing up at him like that. She looked away as she felt her eyes begin to tear up.

"Sorry."

"Ah, it's ok," Kakashi said cheerfully, "I've been training you for eight years after all, I'm used to your outbursts by now – although I have to say, I'm glad that this was only a minor one, compared to what poor Naruto's been subjected to over the years."

Sakura laughed, blinking away those tears. Mentally shaking herself, she clapped her hands loudly and pushed away from the counter. "OK, you two, out now, please, I need to get a shower and change before I go anywhere, and if you think I'm gonna do that with two of Konoha's biggest perverts loitering in the next room, you've got another thing coming!" She began herding the two men towards the door, laughing at their – well, Naruto's protestations. Kakashi knew that he was a perv and made no excuses about the fact.

"Hey, we don't leave for another couple of hours, so why don't you meet us at Ichiraku's before we leave?" Naruto suggested as Sakura was closing the door.

"That sounds great, but it's _your _treat," Sakura replied with a smile.

"_Huh?_ How come?"

"Cos it'll be to celebrate my promotion, of course! See you later!" Sakura cheekily stuck her tongue out at her friend, and then quickly shut the door before he had a chance to argue.

* * *

As the two men were leaving their team mate's apartment building, Naruto looked questioningly at Kakashi.

"You didn't tell her how long we'll be gone for," he said accusingly.

"No I didn't," Kakashi replied. "I didn't think it was the right time, considering how upset she was at not being included on the mission in first place. Besides, I've got feeling that we'll be back home way before her, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember Temari from the sand village?"

"That's Gaara's big sister, right?"

"Yeah. Well, I saw her coming out of Lady Tsunade's office, and apparently the Kazekage is in desperate need of trained medical ninjas, because it turns out that while the sand ninjas are good warriors, they are sorely lacking in medical-nins. And what with all their recent skirmishes with the ninjas from the rain country, they have too many wounded and not enough healers to patch them all up."

"So you think that's where Sakura's being sent?" Naruto asked.

"Pretty sure," his teacher answered. "I'm also pretty sure that it won' be a fly-by visit, either. From the sounds of it, things are pretty bad there at the moment. On top of the wounded, there are all sorts of virus' and infections that they need antidotes and immunisations for."

"Oh. Hey, do you think it's safe for Sakura to be sent somewhere like that without us? I mean, what with the trouble with the rain village and all. That's where the Akatsuki's headquarters are, right? What if Sasuke finds out where Sakura is and tries to hurt her or something?"

"Naruto, I doubt that Sasuke is arrogant enough to attempt to kidnap or kill Sakura while she's surrounded by sand-nins – never mind that Sakura herself is a pretty formidable opponent. Besides, we don't even know for sure that Akatsuki is even still in Amegakure." Kakashi told the younger man gently.

"Well yeah, but still…" Naruto grumbled. "Why does granny Tsunade have to send _Sakura_? I mean, surely there are plenty of other medical-nins that she could send and put Sakura back on our team." The words _where she'll be safe_ hung unspoken between them. Ever since an incident a couple of years ago when Konoha kunoichi started going missing, some being found murdered and mutilated horribly while the ones who were found alive had been violated in some of the worst possible ways, quite a few of the men in the village had become fiercely protective of their female relatives and team mates.

Naruto, Kakashi and Sai were no exceptions, especially when there was quite a bit of evidence pointing the finger at Team Hawk. As much as Naruto wanted to defend Sasuke, it was no secret that he wanted to revive his clan – well, only one way to do that right? Not to mention that creep Suigetsu that was with him. Gods only knew was far he'd fallen and what sort of deviancies he'd picked up being exposed to Orochimaru and the Akatsuki for so long. So far, no one had been caught, and it had been over two years since there had been an attack in Konoha.

Kakashi sighed. He could see the blonde fool was just a couple of thoughts away from racing to the hokage tower and doing something monumentally stupid, like demanding that Suna make do with the younger, less-experienced medical-nins or that he refused his mission and would go to Suna with Sakura whether Tsunade liked it or not.

"I've already made sure that Sakura will have a good team of shinobi with her on her journey as back up in case they are attacked. As well as Temari's entourage, and the medical-nins being sent with Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji and Yamato are going, too. Does that make you feel a bit better about Sakura's mission now?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto thought it over for a minute. The Sand-nins were pretty fearsome foes - he himself could vouch for that, having been on the other side before when he was a kid, Chouji was pretty strong and good in a tight spot if he wasn't eating, and Shikamaru and Yamato were some of the smartest shinobi he knew. He admitted to himself that with her superior charka control and super-strength, Sakura was more than able to protect herself as well.

"Yeah, I guess it does," he smiled.

Kakashi glanced over at his blonde companion. "Oh, by the way...Naruto, just how inebriated were you last night, exactly?"

"Huh?"

"_rainbow_ panties? They were clearly white."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Sakura left the hokage's office, her feelings a jumble of excitement, sadness and disappointment. _Away from home for eight whole months, _she thought, _and that's all supposing that there are no complications!_ Kakashi had been right about her promotion – Sakura was now officially a tokubetsu kunoichi, specialising in medicine and medical jutsus. The reason for her promotion was because, as one of the best medical-nins in Konoha, she had been chosen to head a team of seven medic-nins in assisting the medical-nins of Suna during their current crisis, and helping to train up more medic-nins to boost up Suna's medical force. The ninjas chosen for the task were some of the best medic-nins Konoha had to spare.

Among the team Lady Tsunade had put together, three of them Sakura vaguely remembered from her days at the academy; Mitsukai Komohira, Kodai Akahashi and Ibamoui Suzuwa. Mitsukai was a quiet girl that Sakura remembered used to sit with Hinata. Kodai used to be a skilled ninja who specialised in taijutsu until an injury to his knee and hip put a stop to it. Ibamoui was following the well-worn path of his parents by specialising in medical-jutsu. The other three, Ryouken and Sumiko Tamagawa, and Akahi Shinsou, she knew very little about, outside of the fact that Ryouken and Sumiko were cousins. She'd seen them all around the hospital but she had never really spoken to any of them in the past. Now she was supposed to be leading them…the idea made Sakura's stomach perform little somersaults from sheer nervous terror.

She was so lost in thought that the hand landing on her shoulder made her leap about a foot in the air and let out a little _yip_ of fright. Turning around, she found herself eye to eye with an amused Shikamaru.

"Good to see you looking so alert," he remarked sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up!" Sakura snapped, blushing slightly. "You snuck up on me!"

"Sakura, I called your name three times," Shikamaru informed her. "What had you so deep in thought that it had you so inattentive?"

"Just thinking about the mission that Lady Tsunade just gave me," Sakura said, sighing heavily. "I know I should be pleased that she's entrusting me with the other medic-nins, and I should be over the moon about my promotion, and I guess I am, but…" she trailed off, not sure how to voice what she was feeling.

"But…?" Shikamaru pushed.

"Eight moths away from home, away from my family, my friends…it seems like a hell of a long time," Sakura said.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Eight months? Really?" He shook his head in amazement. "That _is_ a long time. Geez, that really sucks, Sakura."

Sakura nodded in agreement. The pair of them walked along together in silence, Sakura brooding over her imminent exile to the sand village, Shikamaru apparently still marvelling at the length of time the pink-haired Kunoichi would be gone for.

"Eight months," he repeated incredulously.

"You know, you're really not helping."

"Sorry."

Sakura sighed. "I suppose it won't be so bad. I mean, it'll give me an opportunity to make some new friends, right? I've worked with the medics that are going with me, but I've never really bothered making many friends outside of the hospital cos I spend so much time with Naruto and everyone else. And I suppose there'll be Temari and Kankuro as well, you know?"

Shikamaru glanced across at her. "Who are you trying to convince, me or you?" He asked, then instantly regretted his words when he saw Sakura's downcast expression. "Look, you know you'll have me, Chouji and Yamato during the first week, at least, and I'm sure Ino and Naruto will come and visit if they can – they're probably both long overdue vacations anyway, and I remember the last time I saw Temari, she told me that Naruto's been meaning to visit Gaara for over a year now. Besides, I'll bet you'll be so busy that the mission will be over before you know it."

Sakura smiled. She was thankful that she had run into Shikamaru now. For all his faults, the lazy ninja just seemed to always know the right thing to say. He and Naruto were very similar in that sense – of course, that's where the similarities ended. She startled Shikamaru when she suddenly threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a squeeze. _Hmm, he's gotten taller since the last time I was this close to him, _she thought. Of course, that had been when they were both seventeen.

Shikamaru laughed nervously and patted Sakura's shoulder gingerly. It didn't help that she had chosen the exact moment to hug him when a group of academy age girls were walking past, earning them a cacophony of catcalls and "aww"s.

"OK, you're welcome. You can let go now," he said, wincing slightly. "Seriously, let go. You're crushing my ribs!"

Sakura giggled and released him. "Sorry. Guess I forgot my own strength!"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru murmured, rubbing his side, then warding off the punch Sakura aimed at his arm.

"Hey, I'm meeting Naruto and Kakashi at Ichiraku's, why don't you join us?" Sakura asked as they resumed walked.

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks. "Ah I can't, sorry," he said, "I've got other plans."

"Oh?" Sakura asked, smiling mischieviously. "What that happen to be a Temari-shaped plan, by any chance?"

"NO!" Shikamaru snapped defensively, heat creeping up his neck. "I mean… well, ok, yes I have plans with her – but it's not anything like what you're imagining, we're just friends, that's all. I'm just treating her to lunch because, uh, she ran out of money and, well, she'll obviously need to eat before we set out tomorrow," he stammered guiltily.

Sakura gave him a hard stare. "Pitiful." She announced. "Especially coming from a genius like you, Shikamaru."

"It's the truth!"

"Um-hmm, whatever you say," Sakura replied disbelievingly. "Well, I'll see you both tomorrow, anyway. Give Temari my love, ok?"

Shikamaru shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck as he watched Sakura tear off in the direction of Ichiraku's. "Troublesome, very troublesome," he murmered to himself.


	2. Setting Off

Ok, Chapter two finally up! Oh, and I've also edited chapter one a wee bit too. Still no Gaarabut he'll be making an appearance next chapter I promise. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the surprise guest for this fiction...

I'd also like to say thank you to the people who left reviews, they're always good for a writer's self-esteem and can help feed the plot-bunnies and improve the writer's style.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of this particular fan fiction. Kishimoto owns the characters and the world which I am merely borrowing and playing with for a bit.

* * *

The following morning, Sakura checked her pack for what must have been the twentieth time. The group wasn't due to set off until ten o'clock but she'd been awake since five in the morning and had to find something to keep herself busy. Normally she would have found Naruto, Ino or Kiba for breakfast or found Kakashi and wheedled some extra training time out of him but both team seven and eight had been dispatched on the mission in the land of earth and Ino was filling in for Sakura at the hospital while she was gone and Sakura knew from experience that she would have been clocking in at six a.m sharp. She checked the clock on her desk: nine o'clock. She figured she'd head over to the hospital to say goodbye to Ino before she left.

It had been a fairly tearful parting yesterday when the two teams set off. It was an A-ranked mission requiring extensive searching and tracking, hence why team eight had been chosen for the mission. Really, Kakashi was filling in for Kurenai and he and the other two boys were acting as back-up support to team eight and the ninjas in Iwa. Kakashi had estimated that they would be away for at least four months, so obviously Ino had been fretting about Sai leaving her for so long and meeting someone else. Of course, she would never admit to anyone else just how much she would miss him while he was away. Who could say how Sai had felt, he'd just cited some crap he'd read in a book about how "absence makes the heart grow fonder." It didn't seem to be much comfort – if anything it only served to make Ino cry even more.

Sakura herself had been pretty emotional saying goodbye to her boys. She'd made sure that they had plenty of bandages, soldier pills, antidotes and ointments and had given Hinata strict instructions about looking after them "or else." The white-eyed girl hadn't looked overly impressed with Sakura's overbearing manner but she'd promised to do her best. Sakura made a mental note to herself to apologise for her behaviour the next time she saw the Hyuuga girl as she tied her headband at the nape of her neck. She was also a bit ashamed that Kakashi had seen her cry; after all, it wasn't the first time that the team had been separated for missions. It was just that this was the first time in a long time that they were parted, and for such a long stretch of time, at that. She'd held it together pretty well saying goodbye to team eight, even when Kiba had given her a bone-crushing hug and told how much he'd miss her – of course the fact that he'd followed it up with a remark concerning dreaming about "those little white panties" probably had something to do with that. Poor Hinata had had her medical skills tested before they even left!

After that, Sai and Kakashi had both given her rather awkward hugs – although the fact that Kakashi held on longer than necessary told her how much he didn't like leaving her behind. She also knew that he was concerned over the Sasuke sightings in the region through which Sakura's team would be heading to reach Suna. His whispered "be safe," had already threatened to make her cry but it was Naruto's own tearful squeeze that sent her over the edge. Never one for hiding his emotions, the blonde idiot had been openly crying when Sakura reached him. They'd both hung onto each other for dear life and cried on each other's shoulders until both had had large, damp and snotty patches on their clothing. Eventually Kakashi had pried Naruto away and the two teams had departed.

Sakura had spent the rest of her day with team ShikaInoCho at their favourite restaurant, then at Shikamaru's home on his family estate. She'd eventually got home late that night and slept fitfully until half five the next morning and decided that enough was enough – she had to get up and do something to keep her mind occupied.

Now, four and a half hours later, she was making her way over to the hospital when a yawning Shikamaru fell into step with her.

"Maaan, what a drag, having to get up so early," he grumbled, wiping sleep from his eyes.

"How long you been up for?" Sakura asked nodding a greeting to the munching Choji on Shikamaru's other side.

"About half an hour, maybe," The spiky-topped shinobi yawned.

"Huh. Bully for you," Sakura grumbled. "I've been awake since half five!"

Even Choji looked at her in surprise. "In the name of all the gods, _why?_" Shikamaru asked in amazement.

Sakura shrugged. "Habit, I guess. Besides, I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Weird," Shikamaru said. "I've always had no trouble sleeping, no matter where I am or what's going on."

Sakura snorted very ungracefully. "Now why doesn't that surprise me," she said sarcastically, sticking her tongue out in response to Shikamaru's unfriendly look.

"So are you heading over to the hospital too?" Choji asked through a mouthful of food. Taller than his companions, the plump-faced ninja was also approximately twice their size in girth as well. Not that it really bothered him that much anymore though seeing as how it was precisely his large size which gave him the ability to perform his family's particular brand of jutsu. No one, but no one got away with calling him fat, though.

"Yeah, I thought I should say goodbye before I left, seeing as I'm gonna be gone awhile." Sakura replied.

"Mm, same here," Shikamaru said. "I mean, I know we'll be gone about a week but it seemed rude to go without saying goodbye."

"Liar, you just wanted to laugh at her for having to be up so early while she's filling in for Sakura," Choji retorted.

"Well, that too."

Sakura punched Shikamaru's arm for that, but couldn't help but join in with their laughter.

When the trio reached the hospital, they found Ino in the children's ward fixing up a boy's arm in a sling. Sakura recognised him as one of Iruka's students from the academy. Ino looked up as they walked through the sliding doors and graced them all with a wide smile. "Hi," she said brightly as she finished fixing the boy's arm. After he had received a lollipop and a severe warning about the hazards of tree-climbing, the boy hopped off the table and followed his father from the room.

Sakura smiled brightly at him as they went past. "Little tyke," she said when they were out of earshot. "That's the third time he's been in this month."

"Mm-hm, Shizune said," Ino replied. "She told me that his parents have said that we've got to let it heal the old-fashioned way to teach him a lesson. Seems a bit harsh but, hey, he's not my kid."

Sakura smiled, secretly agreeing with the kid's parents. "So how are you finding it, so far?" she asked, hopping up onto the treatment table and snaffling a handful of lollies from the jar Ino had left on the table. She threw Choji a couple and gave one to Shikamaru and Ino before unwrapping hers and popping it in her mouth.

"Not bad, not bad," Ino sighed, taking a seat. "Although I'll be glad when these two get back so I'll only be on part-time in case if missions. The early starts are gonna _kill_ me!"

"Welcome to my world," Sakura replied with a grin.

"Yeah, no wonder you look so haggard half the time, there's no time for valuable beauty sleep!" Ino sighed, brushing a lock of blonde hair from her eyes.

"Huh! Well thank you _very_ much, Ino-pig!" Sakura exclaimed, resorting back to her old nickname for the blonde.

"You've very welcome, Billboard-Brow!" Ino retorted hotly.

"Here we go," Shikamaru muttered to Choji as the two girls glared daggers at each other. After the Uchiha brat had left, the two girls had slowly repatched their friendship, much to their team mate's relief. These days, they were the best of friends but the slightest thing could have them at each other's throats. Luckily it was rare that these spats lasted longer than a couple of hours, at most. Unfortunately, Shikamaru was suddenly reminded, their disagreement ended when they both found a mutual target for their anger.

"_What was that?_" the two girls snapped, their head whipping around in unison to glare at him.

"Ah, nothing, it's not important," he said. He couldn't be bothered to get involved in a petty argument with them both, so he and Choji made their excuses and left.

* * *

"Troublesome women," he muttered as they made their way back to Choji's house where they'd left their packs.

Choji laughed. "It's always the same with them, isn't it? That can never go just one day without bickering or disagreeing on something."

"Oh, they can," Shikamaru assured him. "I spent quite a bit of time with both of them when I was with Ino so I know they can get on without the arguments; that's what makes it so frustrating."

"They didn't get on so well when you and Ino first got together though, I remember that," his friend said.

"Yeah, I guess that was kinda my fault," Shikamaru admitted.

"You know, you've never actually told me what happened between you and Sakura before that," Choji said accusingly.

"Because there's nothing really _to_ tell," Shikamaru sighed. "We got involved for a bit, fooled around a couple of times but neither of us was really interested in a relationship at the time, at least not with each other.

"Just before we left on that mission in River Country, we started fooling around pretty heavily and…well, something happened with Naruto and I guess Sakura decided that she wanted more than what we'd been doing. But, of course, when we came back, I'd got together with Ino. The rest you know." They'd reached Choji's house and were sitting in his kitchen when Shikamaru finished his tale. Choji threw him a can of green tea and sat down opposite him with his own drink.

"So it's true then, about you and Sakura?" He asked.

"What is?" Shikamaru asked, taking a deep gulp of his drink.

"Well…that Sakura lost her virginity to you."

Shikamaru gagged and spat his drink out in complete surprise. "_WHAT? _Where the hell did you hear that?" He asked wiping droplets of tea off his chin and getting up to find a cloth to clean up his mess.

"You know how you said something happened with Naruto. Well the rumour goes that he caught you and Sakura, ah, you know…"

"Having sex?"

"Yeah." Choji blushed. He wasn't as experienced in that department as his friend and found it a little embarrassing to talk about. "Awesome spit-take, by the way, dude."

"Thanks." Shikamaru replied flatly. He sighed at took his seat again. "No it's not true." He thought about it for a minute then leaned forward conspiratorially. "Well, it's not entirely true. We almost got that far but you guys interrupted us – oh, stop blushing Choji! Anyway, turned out Naruto was looking for Sakura and dad told him where to find her-"

"Yeah, I remember him catching up with us, and saying that he was gonna check round the back and see if you guys were round there," Choji interrupted.

"Yeah. Anyway, apparently he got up to my window, found Sakura half naked on my bed and, showing a rare spark of intelligence, put two and two together and found out why she and I had begun spending so much time together. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy. I think it's the only time I've ever actually known Naruto to blow up at Sakura like that. I guess thats why she decided that she wanted to be my girlfriend after all, just to get at Naruto. I guess. I never really asked her why it bothered her that me and Ino got together."

Choji sat back, looking stunned. He'd never heard this story before. Oh he'd known that there had been something going on between his best friend and the pink-haired Kunoichi – he'd guessed something was up cos the dark-haired young man had been unusually bright and chipper and finally managed to wheedle out the source of his cheerfulness, and he remembered Sakura and Naruto having a blistering argument just before they left. He knew that it had had something to do with his friend but Shikamaru had never told him exactly what had happened, he'd usually just brushed the subject off, branding it "too troublesome."

"Well, shit," he said finally. "No wonder things were so tense for a while. Man, you're lucky Sakura's still talking to you after pulling that on her."

Shikamaru nodded in agreement, finishing his tea.

"You think if we hadn't left straight after that that you would have gone out with Sakura instead of Ino?" Choji asked, following the pony-tailed shinobi into the porch where they put their shoes back on and began giving their packs a final checking over.

"Who knows," Shikamaru replied. "Maybe. Probably not, though. I mean, I'd been lusting after Ino well before my thing with Sakura started. Don't get me wrong, she's a great girl and she's real pretty but she's far too troublesome a woman to ever get involved with."

"This coming from the guy who dated Ino for over a year and has been lusting after the Kazekage's sister off and on since we were fourteen?" Choji asked quizzically.

"Shut up," Shikamaru replied shortly. "I'll have you know that I have not had a lusty thought for that troublesome woman in years, thank you very much."

"Is that why you took her on a date yesterday?"

"It wasn't a date!"

"Yeah sure, whatever you say."

Shikamaru glowered at his friend. "Come on, they'll be waiting for us at the gates."

* * *

Sakura had been waiting at the gates for a good twenty minutes when the rest of the medic-nins and the Sand ninjas showed up. She'd left the hospital not long after the boys, having made up with Ino and bidding good luck and farewell. They'd both shed a few tears, then Ino had been summoned to help man the desk at the emergency admissions department. Sakura had then circled back home for her pack and had been waiting ever since.

A little past ten o'clock, Sakura was joined by her sometime-leader Yamato and Temari, Gaara's older sister.

She smiled at Temari when the older blonde woman approached her. It always amazed her that Gaara was related to Temari and Kankuro because there was hardly any family resemblance at all. Both Temari and Kankuro had fairly similar hair colours, hers a sort of honey-blonde and his was a sort of chestnut brown. He was the image of their father as well, apparently, while Temari looked very similar to their mother. Gaara, on the other hand had very bright, blood red hair, pale, pale skin compared to his siblings' dusky tans and bright aquamarine eyes framed by the black markings of the one-tailed demon spirit of Shukaku that his body had once been the host of. She supposed there was some similarity around the face but it wasn't something that people immediately picked up on. Despite these differences, they had become a pretty tight-knit family over the years, especially after the Akatsuki got their hands on him and sucked the Shukaku out of him, killing him in the process. It was only through the elder puppet-master Chiyo sacrificing her own life to restore his that the young Kazekage had been saved.

"Morning," the older woman said, stopping in front of the pink-haired medic. "I'd apologise for being late but it looks like we're still waiting for some stragglers. Who're we waiting on?"

"Shikamaru and Choji. They probably stopped for food and with Choji, you know how long it takes to fill him," Sakura replied.

Temari smiled. "That's true." She set her stuff on the ground and dropped down beside where Sakura was sitting. "Listen, I'm really sorry about you being taken off Naruto's team for us."

Sakura shrugged. "It's not your fault. It's just one of those things, you know. Lady Tsunade obviously thought that I was the best person for the job, so here I am."

"Actually, it kinda is my fault," Temari confessed. "I requested you specifically because of your medical skills. I don't think we've ever thanked you enough for saving Kankuro when that bastard Sasori poisoned him." The blonde woman rested her chin on her knees, her expression troubled. "Things are bad in Suna right now, Sakura. The villages in the wind country are being attacked left, right and centre and we don't know who's behind it or why they are doing this. We've always prided ourselves on the strength of our people in Suna, but I guess we got arrogant and began neglecting training our people beyond basic healing jutsus. We barely have enough ninjas to send to aid our people because we simply don't have enough ninjas who have specialised in medical jutsus and so all of our ninjas are sitting in hospitals sick and injured with no one to heal them and just getting worse and worse – we need medics like you, Sakura, to revive the strength of our people so that our village can be protected if the enemy decides to attack Suna and the Kazekage." She turned haunted eyes to Sakura, who saw all too clearly the desperation, fear and exhaustion that she was suffering from. "I don't want to risk losing my family again," she whispered fiercely.

Sakura opened her mouth, couldn't think of an adequate response, shut it again. She met Temari's eyes and nodded grimly. "I'll try my best not to let you down," she said finally.

Temari stared at her, then she smiled. "I knew that we could count on you," she replied. "Although I'm surprised that the rest of your team aren't accompanying you. It must be an important mission to split you guys up – the way I hear it, your team has become practically as inseparable as Shikamaru's team over the past couple of years."

"I don't know much about it, besides knowing that it's an A-ranked mission and that it's in the earth country and Lady Tsunade doesn't dare risk doing anything that could cause tension between Konoha and Iwa, but I'm sure it probably is quite important if it's an A-ranked mission."

"The girls sat in companionable silence for a while, listening to the chatter of the Sand ninjas and the other medic-nins. Team Gai passed them as they were returning from a completed mission. Rock was his usual exuberant self, running over and lifting Sakura off her feet and pulling her into a suffocating embrace as he wished her a belated happy birthday. Tenten hugged her next and excitedly showed her what Neji had bought her for her own birthday a few weeks back and earning herself a black look from him when she suggestively mentioned what else he'd given her in the privacy of their room that night.

"So what are you guys doing out here?" the brunette asked, waving Neji away when he tried to herd them in the direction of the Hokage's tower, no doubt worried about what she'd blurt out next. Tenten and Neji were one of the longest-lasting couples that Sakura knew. They'd gotten together when they were 16 and, despite a few rocky patches where they had split up, then got back together again, they were still going strong, although it wasn't always easy to tell that they were a couple. Neji was always so prim and proper that he barely touched her when they were in public and Tenten was so bubbly and friendly that some people just thought that the way she was with Neji was how she acted around all her friends.

Sakura told them about her mission in Suna, with Temari filling in the blanks regarding the attacks from the ninjas from the Rain Country. When they told them how long Sakura was due to be away for, Tenten's face fell. "Aww, I was looking forward to catching up with you and, you know, just doing girly stuff for a change. I've been stuck with three hairy, smelly men for the past month!"

"I beg your pardon?" Neji asked indignantly.

"OK, two hairy, smelly men and one hairy man who only smells occasionally," Tenten amended, rolling her eyes. She stuck her tongue out at Neji who attempted to glare at her but eventually had to smile as everyone around him started laughing.

"Seriously, though, I think it is terrible that our village is to be robbed of the glow of sweet Sakura's light and youth for so long!" Lee announced dramatically. "Temari, tell that brother of yours that this means that there is a challenge between him and I, for stealing our precious Sakura!"

"I'm sure he'll be delighted," Temari replied, laughing.

"Who'll be delighted?" Shikamaru asked as he and Chouji finally reached the group waiting for them at the gates.

"I was just saying; how will we ever get by deprived of darling Sakura and her sweet and gentle touch for so very long!" The green-clad shinobi explained extravagantly.

"I'm sure you'll survive," Sakura said dryly as Shikamaru stared at Lee in bewilderment, at a loss for how to respond – a common reaction around the self-proclaimed 'Green Beast.' Sakura knew him well enough to know that he probably didn't mean half of what he said to her now; it was just a routine that they had fallen into over the years. Once upon a time, he had meant every romantic cliché he'd ever told her but now it was just like his way of saying hello. Nonetheless, even she could still be left feeling dazed and confused after a Lee encounter.

"Alright then, if everyone is here now, I think it best that we head off so we can get as much done while it's still light," Yamato announced, clapping his hands together to get everyone motivated.

As the rest of the group rechecked packs one last time and began to head out of the gates, Sakura gave Tenten and Lee one final hug, thanked Neji for wishing her luck before she followed the rest of the team out of the village and out onto the road that would take her to what was to be her home for the next eight months.

* * *

The group travelled for the next ten hours with only one break for food and a chance for catch their breaths. Sakura had spent the best part of the morning and afternoon walking with Temari as they caught up on everything that had been happening in each other's lives since they'd last seen each other. Sakura discovered that all of the sand siblings were still single – something which Sakura herself could relate to, Temari's last relationship had ended nine months ago when she found out that the "cute and oh-so-charming" man she'd been dating suddenly announced that he was a married man and had become a new daddy. Sakura laughed as Temari told her about her brothers' outraged reactions, her impersonations of them both spot-on. Apparently Kankuro had had to be restrained from pummelling him to death when he saw him of the street the next day and Gaara gave serious thought to issuing a law making lying and adultery punishable by painful death. Her description of what they'd wanted to do to the man made most of the men who overheard them move as far away from her as possible. Gaara, as far as anyone knew, still had yet to even _have_ a girlfriend, although it never seemed to bother him, claiming instead that he had far more pressing matters to worry about than his love life, or lack, thereof. Kankuro, who made Kiba's philandering look tame in comparison, was cheerfully single by choice. The village itself was slowly changing. It was financially better off, and it's relationships with the other ninja villages had drastically improved in the past few years. Gaara was proving to be a very popular Kazekage indeed, especially now that he was no longer the host for the one-tailed demon beast Shukaku. It helped, no doubt, that he was young, single and attractive. Temari told Sakura that there had been many Daimyos across the lands that had offered Gaara their daughter's hand in marriage. Of course, Kankuro had nearly caused one village to declare war on them when he'd seduced the daimyo's daughter. The poor girl fell in love with him and begged her father to let her marry him instead, only for Kankuro to turn her down flat. Apparently following that particular incident, Gaara had threatened Kankuro that he would personally castrate him if he ever caught him so much as _sniffing_ in the direction of any of the Daimyo's daughters again – of course, his words weren't quite so polite.

In turn, Sakura told Temari about the complete absence of men in her life, admittedly cos she spent so much time worrying about and spending time with Naruto, Sai and Kakashi when she wasn't working in the hospital that she didn't really allow herself time to meet new men. She had gone on a few dates with some of the men that she worked with on the wards but they'd just never felt right. She told the older woman about how her matchmaking had finally paid off when she's gotten Sai and Ino together and how Naruto was still as much of a loudmouthed idiot as ever. As she talked, she realised with a jolt that she had nothing to talk about but shop-talk. All her conversation revolved around either her work in the hospital or her missions with Team Kakashi.

"Damn, I need a life," she said, after pointing this out to Temari, who nodded in agreement.

"Well, we'll soon sort that out once you've gotten settled in," the blonde laughed. Tsunade had already confirmed that Sakura would have suitable living arrangements while she was staying in Suna and it was to be arranged that she would be staying in a small apartment in a building opposite the hospital and, on top of the one and half million ryō that Konoha would be paid, Sakura herself was to be paid a monthly salary of six thousand ryō with which to cover her daily living expenses.

"Sounds like a plan," Sakura replied. They both shook on it, then Temari excused herself and fell back to fall into step with Shikamaru. Moments later, Choji caught up with her and they spent the rest of the day traveling together, giving the pair as much privacy as was possible on the road.

* * *

As night began to close in, Sakura, who had been observing one of the medic-nins, Kodai for the past few hours, called the group to a halt when they reached a clearing in the woods that they were travelling through.

"OK, I think we should make camp here for the night and get some rest before continuing," she said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" One of the sand shinobi, Shinji if she remembered rightly, asked as the rest of the group came to a stand-still, most of them glad for the rest.

Sakura glanced over at the dark-haired young man and stepped closer to the ninja so that no one else would overhear them. "Shinji, I really don't think that Kodai will be able to go much further without a good night's rest and some healing for his knee. As it is, if he's not better by tomorrow, Yamato, Choji and Ibamoui will have to take turns carrying him the rest of the way. Besides, the rest of the group are exhausted – we've been travelling for ten hours straight, with only half an hour to eat and catch our breath! I don't think we're gonna find anywhere better than here to make camp, either."

"I agree," Yamato said, overhearing their conversation. "We will all benefit much more from a good night's sleep, don't you think?" He asked, turning his stare, the stare that had intimidated Naruto on numerous occasions into obeying an order that he had been stubbornly refusing to listen to previously.

The Sand shinobi stared at the older man nervously and stammered his agreement. Turned out Naruto wasn't the only one it worked on. Yamato winked at Sakura as the man began to unpack his stuff for the night.

Sakura smiled back then frowned as a raindrop hit her cheek. "Damn, that's all we need. The dampness isn't gonna help Kodai's knee and it's going to put everyone in a foul mood tomorrow whether we rest or not." She glanced at Yamato, who had a resigned expression on his face, almost as if he knew what she was about to ask. "You think you could use that jutsu of yours to rustle us up some huts for shelter?"

Yamato sighed. "Well, I guess it really wouldn't be good to spend the night in the rain," he mused. "OK, then. Move everyone to one side and I'll see what I can do."

Once everyone had cleared out of the area, he performed a couple of hand seals to produce a rudimentary wooden house just big enough for the team to fit inside comfortably. Temari's jaw dropped when she saw it. "Wow," she murmured. "I wonder if Gaara could learn to do that with his sand control."

"If he has time, I'm sure Yamato will teach him if he can," Sakura replied as they made their way into the room that Yamato had designated for the women. After they had laid out their futons for the night, Sakura excused herself and asked for admission into the men's quarters where she made her way over Kodai who was holding a cold compress of his knee to take down the swelling. He glanced up at Sakura as she approached and smiled grimly.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, kneeling down in front of him.

"I've been better," he admitted, wincing as she placed her hands on his knee and examined how much the ligament had swollen. "I'll be fine in the morning though, once I've had a chance to rest it."

"Have you tried using the palm technique on it to see if that helps?" Sakura asked.

Kodai gave her a sour look. "Of course. I'm not a complete amateur, you know, I do know how to heal myself."

Sakura nodded. "OK, good. Supper will be ready soon, then we should all settle down and get some sleep."

Shikamaru stopped her as she was making he way back to the women's bedroom. "Is that guy gonna be ok?" He asked, nodding in Kodai direction.

Sakura shrugged. "He says so. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose."

Shikamaru nodded, and then he frowned, his eyes looking past her head at the window.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Sakura asked, turning toward the window too.

"I thought I saw someone moving around outside," Shikamaru said, already moving so that he was standing with his back flush with the wall next the window. Sakura took the other side, mirroring Shikamaru's position. Sensing the tension in the air, the rest of the room fell silent as each shinobi watched them, awaiting orders to prepare for battle.

"What did you see?" Sakura asked, straining her eyes to see anything in the shadow of the trees. She began to ease a kunai out of the pack on her hip.

"I'm not sure," Shikamaru replied, scanning the shadows outside the window. "All I saw was a flash of white."

"White?" Sakura asked, immediately thinking of Sasuke.

"Yeah. It looked like someone with white hair."

Sakura gulped, thinking about the sharp-toothed swordsman that Sasuke always had with him whenever their teams had crossed one another.

"Can you see anything?" Choji whispered from the other side of the room. He and Yamato had moved to the opposite window and was scouting the area on the other side of the house for movement.

"No. You?"

"Got nothing here."

"Maybe it was just, like, a rabbit or something," Choji suggested.

"Yeah. Maybe." Sakura met Shikamaru's eyes. He didn't think that it was something harmless like a rabbit, she could see that. They eased away from the wall, Sakura returned the kunai to her pouch after several more moments and no other sign of life outside of their hut.

"OK, everyone, listen up!" Yamato said loudly. He banged on the door to the women's room and shouted through the wall, "Ladies, I want all of you in here as well, please. Now!"

The door slid open and Temari, the other female Sand shinobi and the three female medic-nins slipped in, confused expressions on their faces.

"There may or may not be an intruder lurking around our campsite," Yamato explained. "It may be a predator or it may be a rouge shinobi. It may even be nothing. Either way, I want everyone to be on the alert tonight. I'm also setting up watch duty for through the night, just in case. Shikamaru, you're on first watch," he said, looking at Shikamaru.

"What! Why me?" Shikamaru asked indignantly.

"Cos you're the one who spotted it first."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to argue when Sumiko interrupted. "Um, excuse me, but supper's ready now, if anyone's still hungry." There was an awful silence as everyone turned to stare at her. Choji's growling stomach broke the silence as the rumble filled the room.

"Well, that answers that question," Temari remarked, laughing.

After supper everyone turned in for the night, except Shikamaru, who was standing outside the door wrapped in a cloak to protect him from the cold and the rain, and Temari, who was talking quietly with the dark-haired shinobi. As Sakura was getting ready for bed, she glanced out of the window in time to see Shikamaru lean forward and give Temari a kiss, so brief that if she'd blinked, she would have missed it. When Temari can back into the room, Sakura struggled to hide her smile.

Yawning, Sakura undressed and snuggled under her blanket. She had the fourth watch, which meant that she'd get at least thee and half hours sleep before she'd be woken to take over Choji's watch. Snuggling deeper under her covers, Sakura closed her eyes and allowed her body to succumb to a deep sleep.

* * *

She wasn't sure what woke her up first, the feeling of movement, the wind whipping her hair around her face, the biting cold rain on her naked legs and arms or the warm, musky scent of sweat in her nose. She opened her eyes groggily, wondering what was going on. Then she looked down and recognised the orange hair of Jugo, one of Sasuke's underlings. She tried to pull her hands free but found them bound together tightly and thrown over Jugo's shoulders. When she tried to use her chakra, Jugo's hands shot up gripped her wrists tightly.

"Please don't make me hurt you, Sakura," he said pleadingly. "Sasuke doesn't mean you any harm, he just wants to talk."

"Yeah right," Sakura snarled, struggling against his hold, pouring all her chakra into her arms to give her the extra strength to break loose. As the ropes binding her hands worked loose, she ground her elbows into Jugo's shoulder blades and pushed up so that she could get her feet against his back and push her heels into his spine, channelling her chakra into her legs and feet this time. With any luck, she'd break the bastard's spine before he could reach wherever it was he was taking her.

Grunting in pain, Jugo suddenly let go of her and she began to free-fall through the trees. She tried to get hold of a passing branch so that she could use her chakra to halt her fall but before she got the chance, Jugo appeared in front of her and, grabbing the front of her shirt, slammed her into the trunk of a tree, pinning her by her throat. Sakura punched him, focusing her chakra into her fist this time. She felt a satisfying crunch of bone as his nose broke and blood began to spurt in crimson streams. Snarling with rage, the red-head threw her several feet through the air where she hit a second tree. The impact knocked all of the air out of her lungs, and she felt her entire right arm go numb as her shoulder took most of the impact. She slid down the trunk until she hit a branch thick enough to hold her weight and got shakily to her feet, her arm hanging limp and useless by her side. Facing Jugo, she readied herself for his next attack, knowing that there was a good chance that this was where she was going to die. She panted heavily, trying desperately to catch her breath, willing the feeling to return to her arm.

Jugo landed on the branch in front of her and glared at her. "Why won't you listen to me?" He growled. "You're not supposed to get hurt!"

Sakura fell completely wrong-footed. What on earth could Sasuke possibly want with her? He'd never shown her much thought before in the team's previous encounters. "What does he want with me?" She asked; buying some time as feeling began to return to her arm, replacing the numbness with a dull ache.

Jugo held his hand out towards her. "Come with me and find out."

Sakura almost considered it. Almost. "Sorry, but tell him he'll have to do a lot better than this to convince me to trust him enough to go to him willingly."

Jugo looked desperate. "_Please, _Sakura," he pleaded. "I promise that you can trust us."

Sakura laughed, desperately struggling with the knots of fear in her stomach. "_Trust _you! You kidnap me from my bed, you – oh gods!" She suddenly remembered that her team weren't with her. "Temari, Shikamaru, Choji, Yamato…what did you do to them?"

"They're sleeping," Jugo said. "I sent them to sleep. They'll not wake up until we're finished with you." His face lit up when he realised that he had an ace that he could use to manipulate her.

"So you're adding blackmail to kidnapping now too, huh?" Sakura snapped. "Sorry, still not seeing any reason to trust you!" She flung herself at Jugo, channelling chakra into her fist in preparation to use her Strong Arm technique. Jugo deftly side-stepped the attack and as Sakura swung around for another blow, his arm shot out, grabbing her by the throat and smashing her against the tree, before pinning her body with his.

"This wasn't meant to happen," he said. "You were supposed to stay asleep until we reached Sasuke."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Sakura spat, trying to prise his fingers from her throat.

"Sakura, please stop struggling," Jugo begged. "I've been ordered to bring you to Sasuke, whether you come willingly or not, but please don't make me hurt you again."

In response, Sakura spat in his face and glared murderously at him. Jugo's expression closed down as all emotion left his face.

"Fine."

He grabbed her head in one large hand and slammed her head hard against the tree. Sakura gasped and cried out in pain as white light instantly blinded her vision. Jugo pulled her head forward, nearly wrenching her head of her shoulders, and once more slammed her head into the tree behind her. Grunting at the impact, Sakura's eyes lost focus and blackness enveloped her once more.

* * *

When Sakura woke up again, she almost thought that she'd dreamed the fight with Jugo. That was, until she tried to move and discovered two things at once; A – she was tied up with her face in the mud and the leaves. B – she hurt everywhere! She began to panic and struggle to get free. If Jugo had knocked her out and now she was tied up, this could only mean-

"Hello Sakura."

Sakura craned her neck up and found herself staring into the perfectly black eyes of Sasuke Uchiha.


	3. A Face From Her Past

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto, I'm just borrowing them to play with for a bit.

Notes: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far and has added this story to their favourites or alerts list, it all makes me feel loved and that I'm doing something right. So keep 'em coming please! :)

* * *

"Sasuke." Sakura breathed his name, heart jumping a little as she looked into his eyes. She hated that he could still affect her like this, but there was no denying it, he was still as lovely on the eyes as he'd always been. Porcelain pale skin, black eyes and messy black hair that always hung seductively over his eyes, his sardonic, lazy smirk told her that he knew all this and the effect it had on the women around him. What a shame that he'd turned out to be such a rat.

"What do you want with me?" She demanded, swallowing past the hard lump of fear and anticipation in her throat.

The raven-haired man smiled softly and leaned over her prone body. He rolled her onto her back and lifted her in his arms before placing her in a sitting position with her back against a tree. Kneeling in front of her, he reached forward to push a lock of blood-encrusted hair from her face. Sakura flinched back before he could touch her, wincing as her already sore head collided with the trunk of the tree behind her.

Sasuke frowned, a look of irritation flashing across his face. He stood up abruptly and walked away from her.

"You always were stubborn," he accused, leaning against a second nearby tree. "Except where it came to me," he mused, placing a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "No, me, you used to do anything for. You claimed that you loved me once. More than anything, do you remember?"

"What has this got to do with why you brought me here, tonight?" Sakura asked, pulling at the bindings on her wrists, testing how much slack they had in them. _Dammit, they're too tight! Whoever tied me up sure knew what they were doing._

"Just wondering how far you'll go for me now. If I can rely on you to help me," Sasuke replied.

Sakura's eyed widened. This had to be a dream, Sasuke Uchiha didn't just ask for help, especially not from a kunoichi that he'd previously deemed 'weak' and 'irritating.' "How could I possibly help _you?"_ She asked incredulously before she could stop herself.

Sasuke smirked at her, deliberately raking his eyes over her body, deliberately trying to embarrass her. True to form, the pink-haired girl blushed and pushed herself back against the tree.

"Don't you dare touch me," she snapped. She struggled against her bindings again, this time pushing a little bit of chakra into her arms to increase the force she was using. Sasuke lunged forward, so fast that he was just blur of movement to Sakura's eyes. He gripped her arms and gave her a shake.

"Ah-ah, Sakura," he chided. "I want you to conserve your strength for what I have in mind for you." He chuckled when he saw the dread anticipation in her eyes. "No, I don't want you like _that_," he added. "So sorry to disappoint you."

Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously and she threw herself forward, sinking her teeth into the flesh of Sasuke's neck. She bit down hard enough until she could feel the skin break and the salty, coppery taste of blood began to fill her mouth. She felt one of Sasuke's hands leave her shoulder and relinquished her hold on him, gasping as he drove his fist up and under her ribs, leaving her winded and doubled over for the second time that night. She looked up, panting for breathe but grinning dangerously at Sasuke, feeling his blood drip down her chin and feeling no small amount of satisfaction when she saw him gingerly touching the perfect set of bite marks that she'd left imprinted on his neck. He lifted his hand away from his neck, looked at the droplets of blood on his fingertips. Catching Sakura's eyes, he snarled angrily at her and delivered her a cruel back-handed blow across her face that made her head bounce mercilessly of the trunk behind her head once more.

"Savage little bitch," he muttered, stalking away from her.

Stars dancing in her vision, Sakura peered blearily up at the looming figure above her. "Why don't you just tell me what you want, instead of playing your sick little games." She was starting to feel decidedly sick and dizzy, no doubt the onset of a concussion.

Sasuke turned and glared at her, assessing whether or not to just kill her and find someone else to help him. Sighing, he realised that out of all the medic-nins she'd brought with her, Sakura was by far the only one skilled enough to be of any use to him. Besides which, he still hadn't completely counted her out as a vessal for his heir at some point in the future. If it took a little force and domination, well, maybe that would make it all the more fun. For him, at least. He grinned wickedly as this last thought crossed his hand, being mindful to hide it from his captive. Meeting her eyes again, he approached his former team mate.

"One of my comrades is in need of healing," he explained, sitting in front of her. "I believe that you're the only kunoichi short of Tsunade herself who can help us."

Sakura started at him incredulously for a moment, then she started to laugh hysterically. "AHA! So the great Sasuke Uchiha and his motley crew of thugs finally encountered something bigger and nastier than they are, I suppose? What happened to your own little resident healer? She snuff it or something?"

Sasuke gave her a very unfriendly look, warning her not to push her luck. "Not yet," he said. "She's the one that I want you to heal for me. Of course, now you're gonna have to add Jugo's nose and my neck to that list now." He added, gestured at the bite marks on his neck which were still oozing blood.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "Give me one good reason why I should agree to help you?" She asked.

Sasuke's eyebrows quirked upwards. "Why, for the sake of your friends, of course!" He said. "Not to mention to save your own miserable life."

"Why should I even believe that you plan on freeing me and my companions once I've done what you've asked of me?" Sakura asked.

"Is my word not enough?"

Sakura snorted in response. "You've got me sitting here, tied up, bloody and bruised, and you expect me to believe that you mean me no harm?"

Sasuke stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, then pulled her roughly towards him. He turned her around so that she was sitting with her back pressed against Sasuke's chest, her bound hands dangerously close to an appendage that she wanted as little to do with as possible. Being that close to another human body also made her acutely aware, not only of how very cold she was, but of the fact that she was clad in nothing but her underwear and the thin black shirt that she used for sleeping in. She was torn between wanting to pull away and allow him to hold her, stealing as much warmth as she could.

"As proof that I mean you no harm tonight, I am going to cut your bonds," Sasuke said, reaching around her to take a kunai from the pack attached to his thigh. "But in return, I want your word that you will not try to attack me or run away. I would really hate to hurt you anymore than you already are. Do we have a deal?"

Sakura considered this offer. It would certainly give her more of an advantage and make it easier for her to escape. She also wanted to regain some control and dignity, and she certainly couldn't do that while tied up. She nodded once in reply, and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her hands come loose. She rubbed her wrists to get rid of the pins and needles, then wrapped her arms around herself for warmth as Sasuke moved around to her front and began cutting away the ropes that bound her ankles.

"Now do you think you can trust me?" Sasuke asked, sitting back on his heels and watching her face. He looked relaxed but Sakura knew him well enough that any move that suggested that she was about to bolt would be quashed instantly and that she would, at best, end up tied up again. She opened her mouth to reply when a figure suddenly thumped to the ground next to her. She looked up to see Jugo looming over her. His nose was very badly swollen and sat at an odd angle on his face. He'd washed the blood from his face, but his clothing was still stained with patches of dried blood. His breathed sounded painful and when he spoke, his words sounded thick and slurred.

"We have company, Sasuke. It appears that not everyone was affected by the genjutsu and now there is a party of five ninjas heading our way."

"What?" The dark-haired shinobi yelled, rising gracefully to his feet. "How could they break through the-" he stopped and sighed tiredly. "Shikamaru Nara's with them, isn't he? Of course, I might've known _he'd_ cause us trouble." He yelled out loud in frustration. "I should have just let Suigetsu kill him when he had the chance."

Sakura looked up at him sharply. "How on earth did you become this cruel, Sasuke?" she asked incredulously. "You're talking about killing someone that was your friend as if he's nothing!"

"He is nothing to me," Sasuke replied.

"It will not be long before they reach this place," Jugo said anxiously. "You should take Sakura and go. I'll stay here and get rid of them."

"NO!" Sakura shouted, resisting with all her strength when Sasuke tried to pull her to her feet. "I'll not leave my friends to be slaughtered by your pet beast!" She met Jugo's furious glare with a fiery glare of her own.

"Oh for-" Sasuke swore under his breath. "I've had enough of this! You're coming, whether you like it or not."

Sakura slapped his hand away as he tried once more to pull her to her feet. Sasuke glared at her furiously, then he bent down and, grabbing her arm, hoisted her up and across his shoulder.

"Hold them off here," He said, as he began to carry Sakura away. "Oh, and Jugo? Try not to kill anybody if you can help it."

Sakura's head spun and she felt like she would throw up as her head was bounced up and down as Sasuke moved swiftly through the dense landscape. She closed her eyes and whimpered pitifully as the pain in her head made bright lights dance in her vision. Concussion, definitely a concussion.

She was finally set on her feet when they reached the shore of a stream running through the forest. Dizziness overwhelmed her and she threw her arms out to catch her balance, which meant that she was once again pressed against Sasuke as he grabbed hold of her and held her steady. He frowned as he peered into her unfocused eyes.

"Hmm, looks like Jugo hit you a little too hard," he mused, conveniently forgetting his own actions that had caused her skull further injury. "You'd better be able to still use your healing jutsu."

Sakura no longer had the will to argue anymore. She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep, to make the pain go away. She could see Karin now, lying on her back on top of a travelling robe to protect her from the bits of wood and stones on the ground beneath her. She was lying very still and Sakura could see even from where she was standing that her breathing was laboured. The fourth member of Sasuke's team, the creepy sharp-toothed Suigetsu was hovering over her, holding a bunched-up handful of material against her abdomen. He looked up when he heard Sasuke's arrival, and leered lasciviously at Sakura, taking in her pale bare legs and the glimpse of panties that her shirt revealed where it rode up at the back.

"Ooh, do we get to play with her when she's done?" He asked, standing up and moving to one side as they approached, Sasuke half-dragging Sakura behind him.

"No one touches her tonight," Sasuke replied tersely. He shoved Sakura none too gently to her knees before the injured kunoichi.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and gave herself a mental shake before she assessed the damage done to the woman before her. There were multiple cuts and bruises on her face, arms and legs; one eye was bloodied and swollen shut and she could see the bone poking through a gash in her leg where it had been snapped like a twig. Further up, there was a large, angry wound across her stomach and angling up towards her chest. The wound was seeping blood at an alarming rate now that there was no one applying pressure to it. The woman whimpered when Sakura performed the hand seals for her healing jutsu and placed her hands on top of the wound, pushing her chakra into the wound, repairing muscle and tissue inside her body and closing the wounds across the skin. She saw Sasuke kneel opposite her on the other side of Karin and she looked up to see that he had his Sharingan activated and hated that he would copy the jutsu that'd she'd worked so hard to perfect.

It was a long procedure, and by the time that she was through, Sakura was sweating profusely, her head was pounding and she felt dangerously close to passing out. She glanced across at Sasuke, who met her eyes and smiled at her arrogantly. He'd won – this was all that he had wanted from her.

"Thank you."

Sakura stood up and walked away from the pair. "I'm sure that you can attend to her leg yourself." She said coldly. "Now take me back."

Sasuke stared at her thoughtfully. "You know, you're not as pathetic as I thought you were," he said. "Not to mention the fact that it's actually possible to tell that you're a woman now. On second thoughts," he stood up and began to stalk towards her, backing her up until the only place left to go was into the stream. "I think I'll keep you around a bit longer. You amuse me."

Sakura's eyes widened and an icy lump of fear settled in the pit of her stomach. _Gods_ _no, please don't let him attack me now! I've got nothing left to fight him off with._ She fell automatically into a fighting stance, and tried to find somewhere from which to draw some chakra for one last desperate attack as Sasuke reached forward to claim his 'prize.'

Until, that is, something stopped him. A comical expression of confusion and consternation crossed his face as his arms, apparently against his will, were lifted in the air above his head.

"I'm afraid if you want Sakura, you're gonna have to kill us first."

Sakura almost laughed with relief as Shikamaru, Choji and Temari melted out of the shadow of the trees.

"Shikamaru Nara," Sasuke said casually, as if he didn't have his hands stuck up in the air. "I should have anticipated you breaking the genjutsu. The genius of our year." He laughed meanly. "Took you a while to work out how to release the others from it though, didn't it?"

"It was a strong genjutsu, I'll admit," Shikamaru replied. "Your handiwork I presume?"

Sasuke smiled. "Yes and no. You see, it is a technique that I taught Jugo. One that he seems to have a knack for."

"Oh yeah? Who'd you steal that one off?" Shikamaru asked as Choji and Temari made their way over to Sakura, who had fallen to her knees, finally too tired to even act tough anymore. She had nothing left, her chakra levels were running dangerously low, her head hurt, she felt sick and dizzy and she was cold. Sasuke merely smiled lazily in response to the shadow-nin's question.

"Oh, just some ninja that I killed a while back."

"Where are the others?" Sakura asked as she let Choji wrap her up in his own Jonin jacket and scoop her up in his arms.

"The rest of the Sand-nins are still at the camp with the rest of the Leaf medics and Yamato and Ibamoui are taking care of Red," Temari replied. She knew very little about the members of Hawk, other than the fact that they were lead by the Leaf traitor, Sasuke Uchiha.

"How much longer do you think you can hold me here, hmm, Shikamaru?" Sasuke asked. He stared at Sakura, bundled in Choji's arms, an arrogant smirk playing across his mouth.

"As long as it takes to get Sakura safely away from you," Shikamaru replied. His arms were beginning to feel the strain of being held aloft for so long and he knew that he could only hold the jutsu for a few minutes longer before he ran out. But he'd be damned if he was going to let the Uchiha bastard know that.

"Your chakra's beginning to run low, isn't it?" Sasuke said, conversationally, as if they weren't all embroiled in one big face-off. "I'll be it will run out anytime now. Besides, you're forgetting Suigetsu. He's more than a match for all of you, and he won't let Sakura leave unless I say she can leave." His eyes lit up as the sound of crashing branches behind them all announced a new arrival. "Ah, and here's Jugo."

Shikamaru frowned as he felt movement in the air currents behind him. His Shadow Imitation jutsu was broken as a body ploughed straight into him, tackling him to the ground. He managed to roll onto his back before Jugo straddled his middle, effectively pinning him to the ground, and began pounding his fist into Shikamaru's face over and over again.

"SHIKAMARU!" Sakura cried out, struggling to be loose from Choji's arms. He looked down at her, clearly torn between keeping her from Sasuke and helping his friend. "Choji, help him!" She screamed at him.

Choji looked down at the woman in his arms. They exchanged a look of understanding, then he put her down and ran towards the figures wresting in the mud, preparing his partial expansion jutsu, enlarging his arms and hands. When he reached them, he grabbed hold of Jugo around his waist and lifted him off of Shikamaru before pile-drivering him into the ground. Shikamaru, instantly back up and on his feet, began once again to make the hand signs for his Shadow Imitation jutsu, this time aiming to ensnare all three of his opponents in the jutsu. He swore under his breath when he discovered that his chakra was indeed too low to perform the jutsu and pulled out the trench knives that he had inherited from his sensei. He stood beside Choji, preparing to face off against the increasingly enraged Jugo, watching as those all-too familiar curse seal marks began to spread across his skin.

Meanwhile, Sakura hit out at Sasuke as he tried once again to make a grab for her. Finding a last vestige of strength and running purely on adrenaline, she punched him as hard as she could in the face, grabbing the opportunity to get in another hit as Sasuke reeled back. She stumbled backward, almost knocked completely off her feet as Sasuke returned the punch, striking her across the face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Temari whip open her fan and send a destructive gust of wind in the approaching Suigetsu's direction.

It was at this point that Yamato and Ibamoui turned up and everything went from bad to worse. As Suigetsu got to his feet, Ibamoui charged at him from behind. Suigetsu spun around, sword in hand and sliced the charging ninja across his belly, spilling his guts out into the light. Time seemed to stand still as the blonde shinobi grasped his killer, staring at him in shock as his life began to ebb away. He slowly sank to his knees and collapsed face-first in the muck as the smell of blood and voided bowels filled the air.

You…you BASTARD!" Sakura screamed, already on her feet and running towards Suigetsu, who turned her way, blade in hand and ready to meet another opponent, a blood-thirsty grin almost splitting his face in two.

Sakura poured all of what was left of her chakra into her fist as she prepared to make her attack, only half aware of someone shouting, "NO!" until Sasuke appeared before her and, grabbing her around her middle in one arm, throw her bodily across the clearing, where Yamato caught her and broke her fall.

"ENOUGH!" Sasuke roared. "There will be no more blood spilt tonight!"

Jugo and Suigetsu looked at him questioningly but obediently backed off, Jugo recalling his curse seal and Suigetsu putting away his sword.

"You're right Sakura, I don't need you anymore," Sasuke told her as he knelt beside Karin and began using the jutsu he'd copied only minutes ago to heal her broken leg. "So don't think for a second that that is why I'm sparing your pathetic lives. The real reason why I'm allowing you all to live is because you're more use to me alive than dead, especially once you have the information that I am about to give you."

"Information?" Yamato asked suspiciously.

"About the Akatsuki," Sasuke clarified. "They have put capturing the nine-tailed beast on hold until they find someone strong enough to successfully remove Kyuubi from its host. However, they've changed tactics and have begun sending out their allies to spread fear and unrest throughout the lands, in the hopes of making the people turn on the Kages of their country."

"But why? What can they achieve with that?" Temari asked.

"By spreading unrest in the countries, they hope to stir up civil wars across the countries with themselves as the instigators and prime candidates to take over leading the countries once the Kages fall."

"Why the sudden change in tactics, though," Sakura asked. "And what do they plan on doing with the tailed beasts that they have captured?"

"How should I know, I didn't stick around long enough to find out," Sasuke replied coldly. "Although my guess would be that they plan on using them much the same way as the first Hokage did. Use them as bargaining chips to gain more power and more money from other countries. I'm afraid it's your job to figure the rest out."

"Wait, how does this benefit you, exactly?" Yamato asked bluntly. "Last I heard you were a fully-fledged member of the Akatsuki. What changed?"

"They had nothing more to offer me so I saw no need to stick around. Besides, I hate being ordered around," Sasuke shrugged.

Yamato laughed dryly. "Huh. Exactly like Orochimaru," he muttered.

Sasuke's eyes flashed angrily. "I am nothing like him," he snapped. "That man was weak, and unworthy of the title 'Sannin!'"

"And yet here you are, doing exactly what he did before you, using the Akatsuki for your own ends, then betraying them when you have no further use for them," Yamato replied. "Or is it a completely different reason? Maybe it was the Akatsuki that injured your friend there?"

Sasuke looked down Karin, frowning. "The Akatsuki don't just let anyone leave. You join up with them; the only way that you get out is through death. That's the way they run things." Karin's healing finally complete; he stood up, cradling the still unconscious woman in his arms. "Oh, one more piece of information," he said as he began walking away. "The Akatsuki base is no longer in the heart of Amegakure. Before we left, they had moved out into the lands bordering the Earth and Wind Countries. Just thought you might want to know."

Then he leapt up into the shadow of the trees and disappeared from view. Suigetsu and Jugo exchanged a look of bemusement, but obediently followed their leader, leaving the team of leaf and sand ninjas alone and confused.

"Ibamoui," Sakura cried, pulling away Yamato's arms and crawled through the mud towards the fallen man. Placing two fingers to his neck, she searched desperately for signs of life. She felt someone kneel down beside her and turned to see Shikamaru watching her carefully. Up close, she could see the damage that Jugo had inflicted upon his face. His right eye was bloodied and swollen shut, his nose and lower lip were both busted and the rest of his face was a mess of gashes and bruises. During the scuffle, the ties holding his hair in its usual pineapple 'do had come loose, so strands of dark brown hair clung to his face. The rest of the group looked barely any better, they all showed signs of battle, each bore a cut or a bruise.

"Any hope?" He asked, his voice coming out thick and rough, as though one of Jugo's punches had caught him in the throat.

Sakura closed her eyes, feeling them filling up with tears. _They all got hurt because of me,_ she thought. _Because _I _let my guard down, let myself be taken. Stupid, stupid! Now Ibamoui..._She shook her head, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as the tears finally spilled over. "I'm sorry," she whispered, covering her face with her hands as sobs racked her body. "I let everyone down, didn't I?"

She felt a second figure kneel down on the other side of her and recognised the edge of Temari's dress before she felt the older woman pull her into her arms.

"Don't be so stupid," she whispered into Sakura's hair. "You weren't the only one to be caught out by the genjutsu, remember? Besides, what did you want us to do, leave you to their mercy? Who knows what he would have done to you if we hadn't been able to find you."

"If there's anyone to blame, it's me for waiting for Jugo to leave before doing anything," Shikamaru said wearily. Sakura glanced over at him and was shocked to see his stricken expression. "I didn't know that he would take one us – that he was taking you. Sakura, if I'd known, I-"

"Would have attacked him alone and ended up getting yourself killed," Temari interrupted. "You did the sensible thing, in waiting to get back-up before going after him."

"Temari's right," Yamato said. "No one is to blame here. This incident is unfortunate and Ibamoui's death is regrettable but blaming ourselves or each other will get us no where." He patted Sakura's shoulder comfortingly, then lifted Ibamoui's lifeless body in his arms. "Lets get back to the camp and get some more rest before the morning. You still have a full day's travel ahead of you come daybreak. Sakura, do you think you can walk?"

Sakura nodded and got to her feet, only to stumble and fall instantly back to her knees as the world began to spin and pins and needles of pain shot through her skull. She retched and, falling forward on her hands, threw up everything that she'd eaten for supper, and then some. She felt someone gently lift her hair back for her, then Shikamaru picked her up carefully when she was finished.

"But Shikamaru, you're hurt!" Sakura protested. "Please let me walk, I'll be ok in a minute."

"Shut up and let someone look after _you_ for change," Shikamaru said tersely. "Besides, it's just my face that got hurt – and if you say one word about it being an improvement, I swear I'll drop you!" he quipped, smiling down at her, fully expecting the usual Sakura-style retaliation. What he didn't expect was for her tears to begin afresh as she buried her face in his shoulder sobbed as if her heart was breaking.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she gasped around her sobs.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's ok, I'm ok," he said, startled by her emotional outburst. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

"Won't." She mumbled, sniffling into his jacket. "Ibamoui's dead, everyone got hurt and-and-and Sasuke knows Lady Tsunade's jutsu now and it's all cos of me!"

"Shh, Sakura, you did what you had to, no one will blame you for what you did. To be honest, it's a wonder that it's taken him this long to finally copy your abilities. OK, so Ibamoui died saving you, but it was his choice to make. So please, don't beat yourself up over it. I'm gonna have to speed up now, is that ok?" Shikamaru asked, not wanting to cause her any more discomfort as possible. He frowned at her as she nodded into his chest, then took off through the woods, hurrying to catch up with the rest of the group.

Once they had reached the camp and Sakura had been taken by the female medic-nins, Choji approached Shikamaru. He'd been with them when Sakura had broken down in Shikamaru's arms and it had left him decidedly worried. "That wasn't like her, back there," he said, frowning. "Are you sure that she'll be ok?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Eventually. I heard one of the medic-nins telling Yamato that she's received a nasty head injury at some point which looks like it concussed her. That'll probably explain why she's so emotional as well. Either that, or it's her time of the month, you know?" He said with a smile. His face was looking a lot better after Ryouken Tamagawa had healed the worst of the cuts and bruises, including his eye, mouth and nose, although his lip was still a little swollen.

"What about you, are you sure you're ok?" Choji asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine. Apart from being exhausted and a little sore, I'm perfectly healthy." Shikamaru replied. He smiled lazily at Temari as she made her way towards them both.

"I have sent word to the Kazekage for transport to meet us at the borders of the Wind Country, which should only take us six to seven hours at most to reach. Yamato and myself have also agreed that he should head back to Konoha with Ibamoui's body as soon as possible and deliver the information that Uchiha gave us to the Hokage."

"He's going back alone?" Choji asked in amazement.

"Yes." Temari replied. "After tonight, we don't want to take any chances, in case Sasuke decides to attack us again, and we'll need you two with us more than he will." She smiled brightly at the two boys. "You should get some rest while you can. It will be a hard slog come tomorrow to reach the borders of my country in time to meet our transport and if Sakura is still out of commission then one of you boys will have an extra load to carry. The shinobi from the Sand have offered to stay on watch duty while the rest of us get some rest, so you can sleep easy."

Shikamaru smiled as the blonde walked away from him, then made his way to the sleeping quarters for the men, pointedly ignoring Choji's knowing smirk.

* * *

The following day dawned bright and sunny. Thankfully, their journey through the rest of River Country was uneventful. Sakura had tried valiantly to keep up without being helped, but eventually one of the sand shinobi got so fed up of her lagging behind, that he made her let him carry her on his back until they reached the borders of Wind Country where, sure enough, there were three wagons waiting to escort them the rest of the way to Suna.

Sakura had fallen asleep, her head resting on Temari's shoulder when the wagons finally reached Suna later that afternoon. She was woken by the sound of voices coming from beyond the wagon in which she sat. She opened her eyes and found that while she'd been asleep, Temari had moved her to a half-lying position across the seat. Sitting up, she yawned and, rubbing her eyes, took in her surroundings. The Kage's building. She blinked slowly, momentarily wondering why Tsunade's building had the same symbol as Suna, then remembered the mission that had brought her here. _That must mean that the guy in the robes must be Gaara,_ she thought, looking blearily at the tall, broad-shouldered young man talking quietly with Temari, Shikamaru and Choji. The man turned around and Sakura sound herself staring into aquamarine eyes highlighted by black pigmented circles on the skin around them. _Yep, definitely Gaara._ She giggled slightly, thinking how much his looks had improved now that he was older.

Gaara frowned at her, more than a little bit shocked at the state that she was in. The medic-nins with her had healed the worst of her wounds, including the wound on the back of her skull, but there was very little to be done for a quick-fix solution to a concussion. Not to mention the fact that she was still caked in blood, sweat and mud from her ordeal the previous night. OK, so Shikamaru and Choji weren't much better, but still, he'd never anticipate Sakura letting herself be seen looking as she did now, bloody, dirty and washed-out. Their eyes met and held each other's gaze for a long moment, then he broke his gaze, shaking his head in bewilderment and, after murmuring something to Temari, walked back inside the building behind him.

Sakura felt confused and bewildered by all this. Surely he would want to debrief her on her duties before she began working in his hospital?

Temari and Shikamaru made their way back to her and Shikamaru helped her out of the wagon. "The Kazekage has asked me to take you to the hospital to get a second examination, then you are to be shown to your apartment to clean up before he will grant an audience with you," Temari told her. "But, and he said to make sure that this was very clear, only if you feel up to it. He says that he requires you to have a clear head and be well-rested before he speaks with you." She took Sakura's arm and linked it through hers. "I'm gonna disobey orders, though," she said wickedly, grinning at her. "First I'm gonna take you to your new apartment and you can get cleaned up first before I take you anywhere else, cos – no offence, but you stink! Come on!"

Sakura's mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of a response to Temari's proclamation. Choji and Shikamaru couldn't help but laugh as their pink-haired companion was dragged away, still spluttering indignantly.

"Shikamaru! You're coming too! You can shower and change at my place." Temari shouted back.

"Wha-!" Now it was Shikamaru's turn to perform his goldfish expression. Choji gave him a push in the blonde's direction.

"Go on. I'll catch up with you later," he said. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to eat! Oh, and Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked at him questioningly.

"Use a condom," Choji said, grinning mischievously.

Shikamaru's jaw dropped in surprise. He couldn't believe that Choji had just said that! He glanced over his shoulder, hoping that Temari or her brothers were nowhere where they could have overheard. "Shut up!" he muttered, walking away from his friend.

Choji laughed out loud at his friend's embarrassment. _Hmm, now what to eat, _he mused, and headed off in search of food.

"Alright, let's go," Shikamaru said, catching up with the two women and the three of them resumed walking again.

"What was that about?" Temari asked, curious about why Shikamaru's face was still a beautiful shade of pink underneath the remaining bruises.

Shikamaru turned and looked at her appraisingly. _Damn, she really is gorgeous,_ he thought. _For such a troublesome, pushy woman. _He grinned at her and winked. "I'll tell you later."

* * *

Notes: Well, I did promise Gaara would appear, just not how much so. :P Next chapter will be the proper start of my GaaSaku interaction, promise!


	4. The Lothario and the Kazekage

Disclaimer: Naruto and all it's characters belong to Kishimoto. I'm just borrowing them to play with.

Auther's Notes: Thank you you everyone who have reviewed so far and I'm sooo sorry at the slow updates. I will try to update more often but it sometimes gets difficult to get time to write after a hard days' work. Well as promised, this chapter has more Gaara in it this time. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with how this chapter turned out to be honest...ah well, feel free to let me know what you all think.

Enjoy!

* * *

After Temari had showed her to her new apartment, she left Sakura to get showered and changed, informing her that she would be back in a couple of hours to escort her to the hospital for a doctor to have a look at her. Sakura was sure that it wouldn't take Shikamaru that long to get cleaned up, but she said nothing. She'd been all too aware of the heightened tension building between the two since they had left Konoha and had known that it would only be a matter of time before they decided to do something about it. She offered to go by herself to the hospital but Temari wouldn't hear of it.

So here she was, freshly showered, curled up in a surprisingly comfortable squishy cream armchair, wrapped in nothing but her bathrobe and evaluating what was to be her home for the rest of the year. The main room was just big enough for an armchair, a two-seater couch, a low table and a TV while still having plenty of room to move around comfortably. There was a low wall separating the sitting room from the narrow kitchenette, which had just barely enough room for a fridge, a freezer and an oven, although there was still a good amount of bench space to prepare food on. Laundry was done in a communal wash-room, Temari had told her before she had left. Also communal were the baths, although showering, luckily, wasn't. The bathroom held a narrow shower cubicle, a sink and a toilet. The second-largest room in the apartment was the bedroom which, Sakura was glad to see, included a double bed and a narrow wardrobe that made Sakura glad that she hadn't packed that much clothing. Although having said that, she knew that she would have to buy some more clothes eventually while she was here. She couldn't just keep recycling the measly items of clothing that she'd brought with her during the journey from home.

"Who is it?" She called, when she heard a knock on her door.

"It's Kankuro," a familiar voice called back. "Temari sent me to take you over to the hospital. She says she's sorry but she got a little tied up."

"I'll just bet she did," Sakura murmured to herself, grinning wickedly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Hang on, just let me get dressed and I'll be right out," Sakura called, regretfully uncurling from her comfy position and making her way slowly into the bedroom where she's stashed her bag.

"Oh, I don't mind if you're naked, you can let me in."

Sakura chuckled at this. "Yeah right. I've heard _all_ about your reputation, Kankuro. I think I'd prefer to be fully-clothed when I meet you. Less temptation that way if you really are such a lothario." She heard him laugh through the door. It was a good laugh, she thought idly, putting on clean underwear, nice and deep and full-bodied. She'd always had a bit of a weak spot for men with a nice-sounding laugh - of course, that didn't explain why she had been obsessed with Sasuke for all those years…ah, the mistakes of youth!

Just thinking about Sasuke reminded her again of the previous night and the loss that they had suffered. She didn't realise how long she had sat on the floor brooding over Ibamoui's death until she heard apartment door creak open and Kankuro's questioning voice calling her name.

"Sorry, I'm in here," she shouted. "Hang on, I'll be right there!" She quickly pulled on a knee-length navy blue skirt and a sleeveless pink tank top before dashing out of her room to greet Kankuro.

She smiled when she saw the man standing in her living room. He'd barely changed one bit since the last time she'd seen him, which must have been at least three years ago. He was a little bit taller and thinner but the clothing; the facial markings and the easy grin were still the same. "Kankuro. It's been a while."

" Sakura," Kankuro replied, bowing in greeting before her. "You look great!"

"Ha! Yeah right!" Sakura laughed, mirroring his action. "I spent the better half of last night having the snot beat outta me."

"Well, ok, you don't look 'great' great, but you look…" Kankuro paused, not entirely sure what _wouldn't_ result in him getting hit. He wasn't the only one in this room with a reputation, after all. "Like a blossom in full bloom," he said finally. When in doubt, go for flat-out poetic flattery.

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him in wonder, the corners of her mouth twitching, the she started to laugh. "Wow, do lines like that really work?" She asked when she stopped laughing.

Kankuro laughed too, blushing modestly. "Well on the ladies around here they do," he said.

"Hmm, and here I thought you sand ninjas were supposed to be tough as old boots," Sakura commented. "Who'da thunk that your women would fall for such cheesy lines."

"I guess the more hardened you are, the more you appreciate a rare bone of romance when it's thrown your way," Kankuro replied, shrugging. "Besides, who says it's the chat-up lines that have them falling into my bed? Maybe it's just my rugged good looks?" He quipped, pushing his chest out and, squaring his jaw, turned his head so that Sakura could better admire his profile.

"Yeah right," Sakura said sarcastically, laughing as Kankuro instantly deflated. "Come on, lets get this over with, then I can go see that brother of yours."

* * *

"So where have the rest of my medic squad been located to?" Sakura asked as they made their way through the packed hospital.

"The senior medics are actually in the same apartment building as you," Kankuro told her. "Did Temari not mention it?"

Sakura smirked. "No. I think she had other things on her mind at the time," she said dryly.

Kankuro looked at her curiously before continuing, "The other three junior medics are all staying in the hospital dorms until there are more empty apartments available. Although I suppose there's already one going spare," he added regretfully. "I'm sorry about your friend, by the way."

Sakura nodded, smiling sadly. "To be honest, I barely knew him. I mean, we were at the academy together but we hardly ever spoke. Not even once we both worked in the same place." She shook her head sorrowfully. "He was a good man though. He really came through for us all – he lost his life protecting someone that he barely knew and that he had no real loyalties to…I can't help but feel guilty knowing that someone's son, someone's friend even, died for me, you know?"

Kankuro nodded knowingly. "Survivor's guilt," he said. "It happens to the best of us, in our line of work. Gaara suffered from it quite badly after Chiyo passed away."

Sakura nodded. "I remember you mentioning it the last time I saw you in Konoha for the Chunin exams."

Kankuro laughed. "Gods, yeah! I haven't been to Konoha for _ages!_ How long has it been?"

"Well the last time _I_ saw you was when I was seventeen and I missed you the only time that you've been back since. I think that was about…oh, just over a year ago, I think." She laughed. "I remember, you'd already scarpered by the time we got back and Neji was virtually having to be tied up to stop him going after you!" That had been during one of Neji and Tenten's 'off' periods in their relationship and the story went that during Kankuro's stay in Konoha, he had bedded her after a bit too much to drink. She'd really rubbed it in Neji's face the following day, which resulted in the Hyuuga branch member going absolutely nuts and trying to hunt Kankuro down and kill him. Well, kill him after doing various unspeakable things to him first. Sakura had heard from Hinata later on that it was the first time she'd heard her normally tacitile cousin so furious and the language and threats that he had used had even made the likes of Anko and Kiba blush. The result was, Team Gai were never _ever_ sent to Suna and Kankuro had never set foot in the Fire Country since.

"Heh, yeah," Kankuro laughed, blushing. "Which reminds me, he isn't still out for blood, is he?"

Sakura patted his shoulder reassuringly. "No I doubt it. He and Tenten patched up their differences not long after you left so I think it's all but forgotten about now."

"So I'm welcome back now?" Kankuro asked hopefully.

"Not a chance," Sakura said bluntly. "We've enough problems with our own resident philanderer, the last thing Konoha's women needs is you and Kiba in the same place at the same time." Kankuro chuckled. She had a point there.

When they reached the out-patients desk, he leaned across the desk and told the receptionist who they were. Sakura smiled as she watched the way he blatantly flirted with the young blonde behind the desk. She was amazed at how flattering and attentive he could actually be, and even more amazed at how quickly women lapped it all up. His current victim, who couldn't be more than eighteen, was giggling and batting her eyelashes like a pro and blushing prettily every time he paid her a compliment. Sakura glanced across at Kankuro, wondering what they saw in him that made it so easy for him to get into their panties. OK, so she knew that underneath the face paint and the baggy black clothing there was a pretty good-looking man but his weird purple facial markings and the cat-eared hood that he always wore did very little to enhance his looks. But then perhaps that was just her.

"Sakura Haruno?"

Sakura turned to face the elderly doctor that emerged from one of the examination bays on the opposite side of the room. Excusing herself form her oblivious company, she followed the doctor into the little room, smiling when she heard the doctor chiding the young secretary.

"Put him down Megumi, you don't know where he's been," the doctor said before entering the room and shutting the door behind her.

"So, I'm told that you suffered a concussion last night?" The doctor asked once Sakura was sitting comfortably.

"Yes, that's right," Sakura confirmed.

"Your medic team also said that one of the senior medics treated your injuries last night as much as they could. Can you tell me what symptoms you have had since then, please?"

"Ummm…I'm still suffering from headaches, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness mainly," Sakura explained.

"What about your co-ordination?"

"That's fine."

"Memory? Any confusion or fuzziness at all?"

Sakura thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, everything seems ok in that department."

"What's your vision like?"

"Same as always."

"Any other symptoms that you would like to tell me about?" The doctor asked, making a not of what Sakura had told her.

"I had difficulty walking on my own last night. One of my team mates carried me back to camp, and this morning I was still feeling a little hazy." Sakura told her. "I slept in the wagon coming here and it does seem to have made a bit of a difference."

"Mmhm…tell me, after receiving your head injury, did you lose consciousness at all?"

"Yes." Sakura admitted reluctantly. She knew where this would be heading once she confessed to that little detail. Sure enough, the doctor looked over her notes at Sakura sharply.

"How long were you unconscious for?"

"Er…I don't know…"

"Was it longer than two minutes?"

Sakura sighed. No getting outta this one. "Yes." She replied.

The doctor took a few more notes, then put her pen down. "If you have no objections, I would like to run some tests and take an x-ray of your skull, just to make sure that everything's working properly, or at is healing the way it should."

Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration, but nodded anyway. After all, it's probably what she would have done herself. "Will it take very long? Only, I'm supposed to be attending a meeting with your Kazekage at some point today."

The doctor smiled. "Don't worry about that," she said. "I've received word that your health is to be paramount to meeting with him. He says that if need be, he can fit you in for a meeting at some point tomorrow instead."

"Oh. Ok then." Sakura was a little surprised at how accommodating Gaara was being for her and her team. If it had been her and her village was in as much trouble as Suna was, she honestly didn't know if she could be as patient to start seeing some results from the drafted-in help.

* * *

Three hours later, Sakura's examination was finally finished. With orders to take painkillers for the headaches and to have one of the other medics stay with her through the next few nights in case there were further complications, she was free to go. When she left the doctor's office, she was surprised to find Temari, Shikamaru and Choji waiting for her in the waiting room.

"Temari! Shikamaru! I thought you two were busy hav-er…were busy," Sakura asked, quickly cutting off her sentence when they both shot her a warning glare. Kankuro glanced at her curiously, picking up on her near slip of the tongue. "What are you all doing here?" She finished, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Ah, we stopped by your apartment and the landlord said that Kankuro had stopped by for you so we figured that you must still be here and came to see you," Temari replied, stepping between Shikamaru and her brother who was currently eyeballing him very suspiciously. "We bumped into Choji on the way in and so here we are!"

"So what'd the doc say?" Choji asked.

"Ah, nothing really that I didn't already know. I got a concussion during last night's attack. Because I was unconscious for more than two minutes, they've just put me through the whole rota of tests as well as an x-ray. Anyway, I'm on painkillers for the next few weeks and bed rest for the next few days – oh and I'm not allowed to be on my own for about forty-eight hours so I'm gonna have to find someone who'll stay overnight with me for the next few nights."

"Well I'll be more than happy to-" Kankuro began to offer his services before Temari silenced him with a slap upside the head.

"No you won't!" She snapped. "I'd rather not have you attempting to seduce Konoha's top medic before she's even had a chance to settle in!"

Kankuro laughed good-naturedly. "Nah, I'd never sleep with Sakura," he said breezily. "Not that I wouldn't want to," he quickly added, holding his arms out defensively when Sakura gasped and whipped her head around to glare at him. "It's just…well, Gaara's put her off-limits and I kinda like my testicles where they are, if you know what I'm sayin'."

Choji and Shikamaru mumbled in agreement. They'd also heard about his episode with the Daimyo's daughter and were both in agreement that if were them and someone like Gaara had threatened _their_ manhood, they'd not only listen, they'd join a monastery just in case of furure temptations. Temari and Sakura just glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Men and their balls," Temari muttered to Sakura under her breath.

"I know," Sakura agreed. "Although, in their defence, we'd be affected too if they didn't have them."

"Stop being logical." Temari retorted. "Anyway, speaking of Gaara, we should be able to get in to speak to him before he sends his staff home for the night," she said louder so that the boys could hear as well. "How about it, you feeling up to it?"

"Sure, best to get it all done when it's still fresh in my memory…sort of."

"OK, then, let's go!" Temari lead the group from the hospital, her brother loping by her side while Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji brought up the rear.

"So what were you two busy with, exactly?" The three Leaf ninjas heard Kankuro ask their sister. This was obviously a topic that Temari and Shikamaru weren't getting out of quite so easily.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set when they finally reached the Kazekage's tower, bathing the village in a dusky light. When Sakura glanced through the gaps between the buildings, she could see out into the desert for miles and miles, the setting sun turning the sand the colour of blood. She stopped in her tracks, so busy admiring the shades of orange, red, yellow and blue that streaked the sky that she barely registered the figure appearing at her shoulder. Turning her head, she looked up into the Kazekage's black-rimmed blue eyes. He had a curious expression on his face as he watched her.

"You like it?" He asked, gesturing at the view before them.

Sakura nodded. "It's beautiful."

"Then I'll have to take you to the top of the tower one day," Gaara replied, smiling gently. "The view is even more spectacular from up there."

"I'd like that," Sakura said, smiling up at him. It was still strange to her, seeing him smiling. There was still a part of her that remembered the solemn boy from five years ago to whom human kindness was still a relatively alien concept to him. She'd barely seen him since but every time that she did his smiles just seemed to be becoming more frequent and more genuine.

His current smile widened slightly as he held his arm out to guide her into the building. "Please, after you," he said politely.

"Oh, thank you."

"Why don't you offer her your arm while you're at it," Kankuro muttered as they walked past him and Temari. Sakura didn't miss the glare that he received for his comment and couldn't stop herself chuckling softly to herself. It was such a typical sibling exchange yet something that no one had ever thought that Gaara would be able to share with anyone. She stopped her laughter abruptly though when Gaara shot her a slightly irritated look.

"Sorry," she murmured politely. As they walked, she examined Gaara in closer detail. It had been well over a year since she'd last really seen him and in some ways he'd changed significantly. He was still as broad-shouldered as the last time she'd seen him – the effect of constantly lugging that gourd around on his back no doubt – but his waist and hips didn't seem as slim or feminine as they used to. Sakura knew that he was constantly training, picking up new fighting skills, particularly Taijutsu. Perhaps this contributed to his new shape. He also slightly taller than the last time she had stood next to him. She turned her attention next to his face, which had lost its remnants of baby-fat years ago, although he'd always be baby-faced and youthful-looking. Since losing the Shukaku, his skin wasn't quite as pale as it had been. Sakura was surprised to learn to just what extent the sand had instinctively protected Gaara. His dark red hair was significantly longer now, the back of it curling over the back of his Kazekage robes and the fringe hanging messily over his eyes. There was also darker red stubble on his cheeks, she noted. Not much, but enough to tell her that he hadn't shaved for a few days. It was difficult to tell, but she could swear that he also had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. She wondered just how bad things had gotten if Gaara had begun neglected himself like this.

Gaara turned to her, opening his mouth to speak when he caught her staring at him intently. "What?" he asked defensively, blushing slightly under her scrutiny.

"Oh, I was, er…nothing." Sakura blushed and quickly looked away. She would ask Temari later about Gaara's workload. And if she found out that he'd been neglecting himself, that would be one of the first things that she'd put right, she decided, setting her jaw and nodding her head determinedly.

"Uh-oh, I know that look," Shikamaru laughed. "I think Sakura's set herself a new goal. Gaara, I'd watch out if I were you cos something tells me that it's got something to do with you." He too hadn't missed the young Kazekage's dishevelled state nor the concern in his friend's eyes when she'd looked at him.

Sakura blushed an even deeper shade of red. _Damn Shikamaru, can't get _anything_ past him!_ She thought. She glared at Shikamaru, who just shrugged back at her. Gaara glanced between the two of them, his gaze lingering on Sakura thoughtfully. He briefly considered asking what Shikamaru had meant by that but decided it was neither the time nor the place.

"Ah, if you will follow me this way, we'll hold our meeting in the conference room," he said, waving his arm in the direction of a corridor branching off to their left.

Sakura fell in step with Shikamaru, glaring up at him furiously. "What was the big idea of saying something like that?" She hissed. "You've embarrassed him now!"

Shikamaru glanced down at her and grinned. "Somehow I don't think he's the one that's embarrassed," he pointed out, reaching out and placing his hand against her burning cheek.

"Get off!" Sakura snapped, slapping his hand away. "Besides, what did you mean by 'she's got a new goal' anyway?" She asked, mimicking him sarcastically.

Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. "I recognised the look in your eyes," he said. "You seem to have forgotten that I spent a lot of time with you up til last year," he continued, holding his hand up to halt her protestations. "I just know you a lot better than you think. You get that same look in your eyes when you encounter a problem or a person that you think needs fixing. I just saw the same expression on your face when you looked at him," he finished, nodding at Gaara's back.

"Wha-I, uh…" Sakura stammered, trying to think up an argument for this statement. She glanced down at her shoes, amazed at how observant the lazy shinobi really was. "Do I really do that?" She asked finally.

"Mm-hm," he replied. "Always." He yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Man, this is such a drag, having to go through all this now. Why can't it wait til tomorrow when we've all been to bed? I'm exhausted!"

"I'm sorry if you find this all so troublesome but the information that you have may be very important and may help us to seek out the source of our recent troubles and stop any further attacks," Gaara said, overhearing Shikamaru's remarks. He led them into a large conference room which consisted of a large oval table and several cushioned straight-backed chairs. Gaara took his seat at the head of the table, his siblings taking the seats on either side of him. The Leaf ninjas each took their seats beside Temari and Kankuro.

Gaara cleared his throat once everyone was seated and were as comfortable as they were going to get in those chairs. "I trust that Temari and Lady Tsunade will have informed of the reason why we have requested aid from the Leaf village?" He asked, addressing his question to Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "Temari told me that there have been problems for the villages and towns of the Wind Country, too many for the shinobi of your village to cope with without more medic-nins to help get them out of the hospital."

Gaara nodded. "That is correct. On top of all of this, these past six months have seen an increase in contagious illnesses. Our current medic-nins have been making treatments for them but they are straining under the pressure of treating the sick as well as healing the wounded."

"Well, it _has_ been the season for viruses and illnesses," Sakura reminded him gently. "Spring is on it's way though, so there'll probably be a lot of improvement in that department."

"So you don't think that it could be the result of some new attack that our enemy has concocted?" Gaara asked.

Sakura opened her mouth to reassure him 'no,' then she stopped and thought it over. It probably wasn't anything that sinister but she decided that she couldn't take the chance on denying the possibility of a boilogical attack. "I'm eighty percent sure that it's all just the usual winter illnesses but I won't know until I get into the hospitals and see the patients," she told him instead.

Gaara nodded, satisfied with her answer. "I trust that Temari has also informed you what we expect of you and your team and any other specifics will be discussed with you at a later date with the head doctor at the hospital once you are feeling well enough to begin," he said, shuffling through the papers that he had prepared before he had brought the group to this room.

"Next on the agenda, I have received word from Konoha, requesting that I let you know that Yamato made it make to the village unharmed. He also wishes you good luck and that he will no doubt see you in roughly four months time when he, Sai and Kakashi end up chasing Naruto across country when he returns home and hears of your adventure." Gaara read, stumbling over the last sentence. He frowned at the note then shook his head. He could actually see the blonde idiot doing something that rash. "That reminds me, where _is_ Naruto?" He asked.

"He, Sai and Kakashi were sent to the Earth Country with Team Kurenai on an A-ranked mission," Sakura explained. "I was held back from that mission specifically so that I could be sent here."

"Oh. Then I apologise," Gaara said. "I must admit, it is disappointing that he is not with you. I have been looking forward to catching up with my old friend."

"I'm sure that he feels the same regret, Lord Kazekage," Sakura replied.

"Gaara," the red-head corrected her.

"What?"

"We're friends, Sakura," Gaara said. "I don't think that there is any need for formalities and titles between friends."

"OK…Gaara."

Gaara nodded in satisfaction. "OK, now to the more interesting aspect of this meeting. Tell me what happened to your team last night, and what message Sasuke Uchiha gave you concerning Akatsuki."

So for the next half hour, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji and Temari took it in turns to describe the events of the previous night. When they had finished, Gaara sat back in his chair, contemplating this new information.

"Interesting," he mused. "So, the Akatsuki have decided to change their tactics? I wonder what has happened to bring this about?"

"Personally, I think it makes a nice change to actually know a little bit more about Akatsuki's plans," Temari remarked. "This is the first time that we've had any clue about their intentions."

"You say that their base has moved from the Village Hidden in the Rain?" Kankuro clarified. "That might explain why we have been subject to so many attacks. Without a leader, the ninjas will just be running riot, doing whatever the hell they please."

"Or, Akatsuki could still be controlling the Rain village from a distance, hoping that their change of location will throw us all off their scent while they finalise their plans," Sakura countered. "Perhaps the problems in Iwa are linked to the problems in this country – the Earth country does border Amegakure, after all."

"That is true," Gaara agreed. The group fell silent, each one contemplating the information that Sasuke had leaked to them.

"These attacks on the towns and villages throughout the country do make more sense, now that we have this information," Gaara said. "With so many attacks and with dwindling numbers of active shinobi experienced enough to handle each mission, more and more villages' requests for aid have been turned down due to sheer lack of manpower. Eventually, this will cause a great deal of hostility for Suna throughout the country and all it would take would be someone to give them a push in the right direction before we'd be faced with a full rebellion."

"What concerns me is what they are planning to do with the bijuu that they have already captured," Kankuro mused.

"What do you mean?" Temari asked.

"Well, what if they decide to just turn them loose on the world, let them destroy everything, then pick the pieces of what's left?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I don't think they'll do that. I think that it's exactly as Sasuke suspected; they plan on using the bijuu as bargaining chips to ally themselves with powerful villages and gain support that way in order to accrue more money."

Gaara sighed and raked his hands through his hair, causing it to stand up at odd angles. He glanced over at Sakura, noting with concern that she was beginning to look weary. The girl was leaning very heavily on one arm, her face cradled in her hand. Her eyes kept fluttering shut and he could see that it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to concentrate on what was going on around her. "Well, there's not much more that we can achieve tonight. I think it may be best if everyone goes home and rests before we set out a plan of action. This meeting is adjourned until further notice," He said to the group, pushing his papers away from him and sitting back in his chair.

"_Finally!"_ Shikamaru exclaimed, pushing his chair back from the table. He yawned and stretched his arms above his head extravagantly. "I think I could sleep for a _week_ after these past few days!"

"When do you think that next meeting will be called?" Temari asked, rolling her eyes at Shikamaru's exclamation.

Gaara considered for a long moment. "I think I would like to review what we have learned tonight again once Sakura has recovered from her injuries, then call a meeting between the Kages from the Hidden villages to discuss a plan of action." He took a small diary from the pocket of his Kazekage robes and flicked through the pages until he found the one that he wanted. "I think I would like to resume this meeting a week from today, if possible. That does mean, of course, that I am requesting that you stay around until then, Shikamaru, Choji."

"That's fine with us," Choji replied. "I'm sure Shikamaru and Temari still have _lots_ of catching up to do."

Gaara frowned and glanced at his sister, who was glaring murderously at the big-built Leaf ninja. Sakura laughed weakly and glanced over at Shikamaru, who was rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably and staring intently at the ground.

"I think that's all for tonight," Gaara concluded. "It's time that someone took Sakura home to get some rest before she drops."

Sakura looked over at Gaara as he stood up and began to collect his notes. "I'm sorry that I've let you down," she murmured, glancing down at her hands. "I'm not exactly much use to you in this state, am I?"

"The only way that you could possibly let me down is if you fail to look after yourself now that you're here among friends," Gaara replied coolly as he walked past her chair. He paused, and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Go home, get some rest, then let me know when you are feeling up to a full debriefing regarding your duties within your role at the hospital. Can you do that for me?"

Sakura looked at him and smiled. "Yes sir," she replied, then hesitated, glancing away from him. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"Get a shave – and possibly a haircut," she said, grinning up at him.

Gaara's jaw dropped as his siblings sniggered in amusement. He met her eyes and couln't help but smile back. "I think we've got a deal," he replied, holding out his hand to her.

Sakura took his hand, and they shook on their deal. Then she got up and let Shikamaru and Choji lead her from the room. Temari leapt up and took Sakura's arm.

"Ah, Temari, could I speak to you for second?" Gaara said softly, calling his sister back.

Temari cringed and stopped in her tracks. Sakura stopped with her, barely concealing her grin.

"But I-"

"I'm sure Shikamaru and Choji are perfectly capable of escorting their own team mate back to her apartment. There's something that I really must discuss with you. In private." Gaara said firmly.

"Maybe Kankuro should go with them instead then," Temari suggested, reluctantly releasing Sakura's arm.

"Oh no, this is a family matter. Kankuro stays."

Temari glanced at Sakura desperately, but grudgingly walked back into the room, letting the door swing shut behind her.

"Hmm, I wonder what that was about," Choji mused as they left the building.

"I've got an idea," Shikamaru said dryly. "And I've also got the sneaking suspicion that the Kazekage will be having words with me too before the week is out."


	5. Doctor's Orders

_Disclaimer:_ All characters belong to Kishimoto. I'm merely borrowing them to satisfy my own imagination.

_Notes:_ First off, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far and has offered me advice and support. It really is am amazing feeling being told that someone likes what I'm doing so far and I only hope that I can continue to impress. So... it's been a long time coming, but this chapter has a lot of Gaara and Sakura interaction that I hope you all enjoy. See you at the next update!

* * *

For the next two days, Sakura dutifully followed the doctor's orders, taking it easy and popping painkillers every time the headaches got too bad. Mitsukai Komohira had stayed in her apartment overnight, sleeping on a futon laid out in the sitting room. Sakura had hoped that it would be a good opportunity to get to know the girl and perhaps make a new friend but all she really achieved was remembering why she'd never really made friends with the girl in the first place when they were at the academy. The girl was so painfully shy that she made Hinata look like your regular little-miss-chatterbox. She showed up at ten PM each night, kept herself to herself, occupying herself by reading and deflecting all of Sakura's attempts at conversation with brief one or two-word answers. She dutifully checked on Sakura at regular intervals during the night, then left promptly at seven AM every morning to return to her apartment two floors down to change and go to work on the wards when either Temari or Choji showed up to take over watching over her until she got up.

Sakura spent most of those days cuddled up in her dressing gown drinking tea and soup while she watched bad daytime TV or listened to music or radio plays on the little radio that Temari had kindly left with the landlord for her the first day that she had arrived in Suna. She also spent a lot of time with Shikamaru and Choji during the day while Temari was working at the Kazekage's headquarters, then the blonde woman would usually join them for an hour or two before she and Shikamaru scurried off to her apartment. Choji usually hung around longer before heading for his own temporary lodgings, which happened to be the floor of an apartment above a yakiniku restaurant. The owner of the restaurant had offered him a place to sleep during his stay after they had bonded over a shared love of grilled meat.

On the third day, bored out of her skull, Sakura decided that she'd taken it easy for long enough. After her shower, she dressed herself in her usual ninja attire – black shorts, white skirt, black tank top and her sleeveless pink zip-up jacket. Knee-high black boots and her Leaf ninja headband tied in place, holding her hair out of her eyes completed the outfit and Sakura was ready to go. She strapped on a tool-belt filled with kunai and shuriken and was just debating whether or not to wear make-up to cover the annoying lurker of a spot on her chin when there was a knock at the door.

Answering the door, Sakura was surprised to see a familiar broad back clad in red standing in her doorway. "Gaara! What are you doing here?"

Gaara turned around and offered a shy smile. "I'm taking an hour for lunch so I thought I'd stop by and see how you are feeling." He glanced down at her attire and frowned. "Were you going somewhere?"

"Um, yeah I was, uh…" Sakura bit her lip. She was going to go to the hospital and have a chat with Dr Uogami about where she would be best put to use when she started officially next week. She'd also planned on hanging around and helping out on the wards until four o'clock when Choji, Shikamaru and Temari would begin arriving. Technically though, she was supposed to be giving work a break entirely for the rest of the week so she couldn't very well tell Gaara that.

Gaara raised his eyebrows, wondering at Sakura's sudden coyness. "Sakura?"

Sakura blushed and laughed guiltily. "I was about to disobey doctor's orders and see about doing a couple of free hours at the hospital." She mumbled. "I'm bored! I've been cooped up for the past few days, just sitting on my ass, I just wanted to get out and _do_ something!" She added defensively when Gaara fixed her with a disapproving look.

"Well... I guess I can sympathise," Gaara replied, thinking back on his encounter with death five years ago and how his two siblings and the rest of his aides had forbidden him from doing anything that could _strain _him for the following few months. "Tell you what, instead of going to the hospital now, why don't you let me treat you to lunch instead? Think of it as my way of repaying you for dragging you away from your team," he suggested, blurting the idea out before he had time to think about it. Gaara's social skills had drastically improved in recent years, it was true, but since making the decision to care about others and let people into his life, Gaara had found himself suffering from acute shyness when asked to interact socially with anyone other than his two siblings or Naruto, who had become the closest thing that the redhead had to a best friend.

Sakura felt her jaw drop at Gaara's suggestion. She'd already guessed that she would be spending a lot more time with the Kazekage professionally but she'd never in a million years expect him to offer anyone outside of his family other than Naruto the chance to socialise and get to know him a little better.

"O-of course, you don't have to, if you'd prefer someone else's company I don't mind-" Gaara said anxiously, mistaking Sakura's stunned expression for horror.

"No, I'd like that," Sakura butted in, effectively preventing him from taking back his offer. "I mean, I've been living off soup mainly for the last few days, I'd love something a little more substantial food-wise. I've probably already lost a few pounds and the last thing I want is my boobs getting any smaller than they already are, right?"

"Er…" Gaara felt himself blush at Sakura's reference to her breasts. Wisely keeping silent on that particular topic, he instead said, "I'll wait for you outside, shall I?"

Sakura smiled brightly at him and agreed. "OK, I'll be down in five. See you soon!"

Shutting the door, she leaned heavily against it with a sigh, "Clever, Sakura. Why'd you have to go and talk about your boobs to him? Now he probably thinks that you're trying to get into his pants or something!" She berated himself as she furiously yanked a brush through her hair and stashed her purse in her hip bag. Staring at herself in the mirror, she shook her head angrily then left her apartment to meet the (embarrassed) Kazekage in the bustling street outside.

* * *

"Man, I'm stuffed!" Sakura exclaimed, sitting back and pushing her plate away from her. They were sitting in a crowded little Okonomiyaki place a couple of streets up from the Kazekage's building. It was one of those places where you ordered all the ingredients and made it from scratch. Sakura had been pleasantly surprised to find that Gaara was actually quite a skilled cook – or, at least he was when it came to this particular dish. She'd been less pleasantly surprised to learn that his favourite food was salted tongue and gizzard. After much giggling and screwing up of faces on her side and much protestation that they really were delicious on his, they eventually agreed to not have either as part of the okonomiyaki ingredients.

"You really must have been hungry," Gaara commented, gesturing at her empty plate, which she'd cleared is record time.

Sakura blushed and laughed. "Well I wasn't kidding when I said that I've been virtually living on tea and soup for the past few days."

"So can I assume that you're feeling much recovered from your ordeal?" Gaara asked, pushing his own plate to one side. He still felt a little hungry but he never really liked eating when he was the only one doing so.

Sakura sighed. "Physically, I'm doing ok. All my cuts and bruises have healed and my headaches aren't as frequent anymore, which is good, I guess..." She looked down at the table and started to fiddle with one of her chopsticks.

"But…" Gaara prompted her, sensing something more than she was holding back.

Sakura glanced up at him then shook her head. "Mentally, I don't think I'm coping that well. I just feel so guilty for causing Ibamoui's death – he was engaged you know? Tipped to be one of Konoha's top surgical medics and he had a beautiful fiancée who he was madly in love with…he had so much to live for and that's all gone because of me," Sakura bit her lip and took a couple of deep breaths until the threat of tears subsided. Gaara remained silent, patiently waiting for her to continue in her own time. Sakura sighed and resumed her story. "Apart from that, I'm so confused over what Sasuke actually wanted from me. I know he primarily wanted to copy my healing jutsu and stop Karin from dieing but he kept leaping from telling me that it was all I was good for to acting like he…well, like he wanted me, personally, you know?" Sakura struggled to put into words how Sasuke had made her feel.

"You felt like he wanted to kidnap and rape you, is that what you're trying to tell me?" Gaara asked, putting into words quite bluntly the thoughts that had been whirling around Sakura's brain.

Sakura nodded, feeling her bottom lip quivering dangerously. "It just confused me so much and made me feel like I was a kid again with him, never knowing entirely where I stood with him."

"Was it the first time that you'd had a run-in with him without Naruto or Kakashi with you?" Gaara asked.

Sakura nodded again. She sighed heavily. "I miss them so much," she murmured. "I wish that they were here with me, that I could talk to them about this." She shook her head and smiled sadly at Gaara. "I guess I just miss being home where I knew everyone and there was always some job that needed doing or someone I could go and talk to, to take my mind off things. I know it sounds horrible but I'm dreading Shikamaru and Choji going home because it means that I'll be on my own with no one familiar to me other than you, Temari and Kankuro and you guys are always so busy that I don't want to burden you with my presence outside of what you've employed me for."

"Sakura…" Gaara reached out for her hand, then hesitated and pulled it back. "Sakura, you're not a burden to us. Yes, I have employed you to help Suna's sparse medical team but I see no reason why that should stop us all from becoming closer friends." He watched as a small smile began to light Sakura's face. He cleared his throat and sat back, gesturing to the waitress for the bill.

"Now I'm not exactly an expert on what makes women happy but Temari always eats ice cream when she's upset so I'm thinking that possibly this is common with all girls that are feeling low," Gaara began as they made their way from the Okonomiyaki place. "I know of a nice little ice cream vendor not far from here so if you want, we'll go get some of that and take it back to my office where we can discuss some additional jobs that I think you could help me with. Is that ok?"

Sakura beamed at him in delight at the mention of ice cream. "Sounds great!" She chirped happily and fell into step with him as he led the way to sweet dairy delights. "You're paying, right?"

* * *

"You know, you're surprisingly easy to talk to," Sakura told Gaara later on as they strolled through Suna's narrow streets on their way back to the Kazekage tower. During the walk to the ice cream vendor, Sakura had continued to reveal to him the way that Sasuke had mentally played with her the night of the attack, the additional guilt that she had felt seeing her friends and comrades hurt while saving her and the worry that she felt from being separated from her team mates. She'd even told him about how stupendously drunk Kiba and Ino had gotten her the night before she'd received this mission. She found Gaara's relative silence rather comforting as he silently let her talk, with no sense that he was judging her or him butting in and trying to assuage her of her guilt instead of just letting her get it all off her chest, the way someone like Naruto or Ino would. Sakura realised that she was beginning to feel the same sort of comfort from being around Gaara as she did when she was with Kakashi, Hinata or Shikamaru.

Gaara smiled at her. "Really?" he asked, "I'm surprised that you think so. I've never really been very good at conversation, to be honest,"

"It's your silence that I like," Sakura told him. "I like that I can just talk to you and tell you what's on my mind without you trying to fix me or not seeming to listen to what I'm saying. It's nice."

Gaara smiled politely. He would never admit to it, but he hadn't actually taken in all of what Sakura had been saying. She'd talked and talked and talked for so long that it had all become a sort of white noise eventually.

"Of course, you're probably thinking that I'm a terrible chatterbox that never shuts up now, right?" Sakura added, laughing.

Not wanting to meet Sakura's eyes in case she saw any guilt in them, Gaara moved to the other side of her to push open to doors to the Kazekage building. "So you're really feeling at a loss for what to do with yourself while you recover?" He asked her, deftly changing the subject.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I guess so," Sakura murmured. "I'm not used to having absolutely nothing to do or not having familiar places or friends that I can visit, you see. At home I'm almost always working or training when I'm not on a mission."

"Is that so?" Gaara asked. "What about time for relaxing or socialising?"

"Well yeah, there's that too."

Sakura followed Gaara up the twisting staircase that wound through the heart of the Kazekage's tower. Neither or them spoke until they reached the second-last set of steps in the staircase. Gaara held the door to the main hallway open for Sakura, then led her through a spacious office area manned by three secretaries, with two more desks that were currently empty. Sakura also noted a small comfortable-looking waiting area, a water fountain and a door which she presumed concealed a toilet before she was ushered past the three secretaries and into Gaara's own office.

"Wow, nice," Sakura said appreciatively as she twirled around slowly, taking in her surroundings. Gaara's office was a large sumptuous semi-circular room illuminated by the light streaming through several circular windows in the walls and carpeted in the thickest carpet Sakura had ever felt. The walls were painted a pale shade of cream and were virtually bare, bar a few portraits of the previous Kazekages. The furniture was sparse, consisting only of a large dark wood desk, a comfortable-looking chair behind it, two cushioned chairs pushed against one of the walls and a large metal filing cabinet behind the desk. Sakura noticed as she took the seat Gaara pulled forward for her that even the desk seemed pretty bare. There was only one pen left out on the desk and no paper work to be seen. But what intrigued Sakura the most were the two framed photographs propped up on the desk. She tried to surreptitiously catch a glimpse of the picture's subjects as Gaara made his way around to the other side of the desk and took his seat, but to no avail.

"Sakura, before I ask you for additional duties beyond that of an experienced medic I would just like to make it very clear that if you feel that it would be too much for you to handle so soon after the attack, then it will not be held against you should you refuse." Gaara began once they were settled. "Is that understood?"

Sakura nodded silently and waited for him to continue.

"I know that we have a second meeting rescheduled with the rest of the team that accompanied you five days from now and I have also received news that Captain Yamato will be joining us too within the next three days-"

"Captain Yamato's coming back?" Sakura interrupted, unexpectedly delighted at this news.

"Yes. The message didn't go into specifics but it would appear that Yamato has further intelligence that may help us figure out what is going on and what our next step should be," Gaara replied. "Anyway, what I would like to ask you, Sakura, is if it would be possible for you personally to aid me in reaching a better understanding of Akatsuki's new developments and how they are going to affect Suna. This means that I will have to ask you to recall everything that occurred between yourself and Sasuke Uchiha the night you were attacked. Do you think you could handle that?"

Sakura thought about it for moment. Could she handle reliving what was quite possibly one of the most humiliating and painful nights of her life? She nodded slowly. "Of course I can," she said. "If Sasuke was telling us the truth, then this won't just affect Suna, it will eventually spread out and begin to affect Konoha too. Besides, it's not as if I haven't had to give detailed reports even following a sound defeat at the hands of an enemy before. Why should Sasuke make things any different?"

Gaara quirked an eyebrow at Sakura reference to Sasuke as her 'enemy.' _I guess things really have changed for you, _he thought, remembering how Sakura had once been devoted to the Uchiha brat and had for the longest time believed that he needed to be saved by someone who could talk some sense into him. Gaara wondered when the scales had fallen from her eyes, how many fights had it taken before she realised that some people just can never be saved, that some people never needed or wanted to be saved in the first place.

Gaara had sensed the darkness in Sasuke the day that they'd met, so many years ago when Gaara himself had been a different person. He'd sensed the same dark, deep loathing for the world around him, the same contempt for his comrades as Gaara had once felt himself. He remembered when word first reached Suna of Sasuke's defection to the Sound village and of the team that had been sent to retrieve him, thinking _he's not coming back, they've lost him for good._

"Alright then," he began. "I guess there's no use wasting any more time, we might as well begin immediately."

Sakura nodded and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Where would you like me to start?" She asked.

"Why don't you start from the beginning again?" Gaara suggested. "I know that we're just going over old ground but I'd like to make sure that nothing was missed. You were with Sasuke longer than the rest of your group so it's possible that he may have given away some more clues without realising it."

"I doubt that," Sakura snorted. "Sasuke _never_ does anything without intention – he's just too damn clever for his, or anyone else's own good."

Gaara smiled dryl. "I know what you mean," he said. "Remember the problems that they caused here last year?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, He deliberately let himself get captured by your sand ninjas, then escaped and came after our team to confront us after you had sent word of his capture. All that, just to prove a point." She shook her head in amazement. All Sasuke had done it for was to prove once and for all that Konoha's attempts to capture him and lock him up would be to no avail, that he would be able to escape any time he liked. From that point on, the Leaf shinobi's orders had changed from restrain and capture Sasuke Uchiha to kill on sight if possible. Nowadays it was mainly Jonin and ANBU teams that were assigned missions to take out team Hawk whenever word reached the village of their whereabouts.

"Still, if he was as desperate as he appeared that night, he might have given away more than he intended. It's worth a shot at least, right?" Gaara said, smiling encouragingly at Sakura.

"I guess," Sakura agreed. "I don't even know how to start."

"Why don't you begin by talking me through that entire day, as best as you can remember it. Was there anything unusual that you or anyone else noticed before you were captured, perhaps?"

Sakura thought hard for a long moment. "Yeah I guess there was, now that I think about it," she said. "Usually that trail tends to be quite busy and well-used but that day it seemed unusually quiet. I guess I never noticed at the time because I was so preoccupied with thinking about the mission and worrying about Naruto and Kakashi and Sai. Besides that, it's not really the time of year where there would be an abundance of travellers." She fell silent, thinking again, trying to recall the events from four days ago. "I seem to recall some of the shinobi from Tsunade's village discussing some unusual marks that they had spotted on some of the trees shortly before we set up camp. I remember one of them…Shinji I think he was called, he wasn't happy about us setting down camp for the night where we were." Sakura ducked her head and glanced up at Gaara through a curtain of hair. "I guess I really shoulda listened to him, huh?"

Gaara paused before answering. "Probably," he said carefully, "but as I understand it, you already had an injured man in your group. As the chief medic, it would naturally be your job to think about the well-being of the people in your squad."

"Yeah," Sakura said, brightening slightly. "Um…after that, after we'd set up camp, Shikamaru noticed something moving through the trees outside of our camp. We saw no further sign of it so we thought that perhaps it was just a wild animal prowling around our campsite that had been attracted to the smell of the food. Even so, Yamato made the decision to set up a watch throughout the night with Shikamaru on first watch-" Sakura was interrupted by a cacophony of noise coming from the foyer outside the office.

Gaara glanced at the door in irritation. He got to his feet just as the door exploded inwards, just about being pulling it clean off its hinges as three familiar figures barged in, all shouting at once.

"Gaara, Sakura's missing!" Temari said anxiously.

"We just came from her apartment and it was completely empty!" Choji exclaimed.

"You need to launch a search party right away!" Shikamaru yelled. "If she's been taken then they can't have gotten too…far…" He frowned, finally spotting the familiar pink-haired head peering around the side of the chair sheepishly them. "What are you doing here?" He asked bluntly.

"I, er…" Sakura stammered, fumbling for a reply.

"I caught Sakura about to disobey doctor's orders this morning," Gaara cut in before she had a chance to say anything. "It would appear that she was getting rather restless without anything to keep her occupied so I took her out for an early lunch before bringing her back here to discuss the Sasuke incident from the other night."

"What were you doing at Sakura's apartment on your own?" Temari asked suspiciously.

Gaara looked a little at a loss for words for a moment. "I suppose I was a little concerned for her," he replied. "Besides, I hardly think I require an escort when I'm out and about."

"No, but I would like to think that under current circumstances and given the information recently acquired, that you would be thinking ahead and taking necessary precautions regarding your safety by keeping a retinue of armed bodyguards with you at all times until the threat has passed," Temari said.

"In my own village? Don't you think that's a bit much, Temari?" Gaara asked, tilting his head to one side and smiling at his older sister in amusement.

"Actually, it's not a bad idea," Shikamaru said. "Think about it, if the Akatsuki really are plotting the imminent over-throw of the world's shinobi villages and if they really are behind the recent spate of attacks in the Wind country, who's to say that they won't eventually target Suna itself? If that were to happen then as the Kazekage you would be their prime target."

Gaara glared at Shikamaru. He'd had quite enough of being under armed guard for the first few months following his return from being kidnapped by Akatsuki five years ago. It wasn't something that he wished to repeat. "I hardly think that that will be necessary. Suna is very well-guarded from invasion as it is. Add that to my own skills as a shinobi and I do not see any reason to remove men and women from their line of duty unnecessarily." He bit off impatiently.

"Gaara," Sakura said quietly "Shikamaru and Temari are right. No one is questioning the security of your village or your abilities as a shinobi but this is the _Akatsuki_ that we're talking about. I think that you should at least have one or two ninja that you know and trust with you whenever you are travelling out of doors – at least, as Temari said, until this threat has passed."

Gaara stared down at her then sighed. "You guys aren't going to let this one go, are you?" he asked tiredly. "Alright, fine. I'll arrange it to have Riki or Matsuri and either you or Kankuro with me whenever I go out, Temari. Does that suit you all well enough?" When they all nodded mutely, he strode around to the other side of his desk. "Good. Now unless you have any further business, I would-"

He was interrupted by two chunin running into his office breathlessly, panting as they came to a halt before him. "Lord Kazekage," one of then gasped out, "we have just received words that there has been an attack on Toukigakure. At least five Rain shinobi entered the village last night and are currently holding the Daimyo of the village and his family hostage within their home. They require urgent assistance, my lord!"

Gaara groaned heavily, covering his eyes with his hand. "Again? This is the third time that village has been attacked!" He glanced at Sakura, then at the group standing behind her. "I think I will have to post-pone our discussion for a more appropriate time. I'm sorry," he said as Sakura stood up and the three Leaf shinobi began to back out of the office.

"Don't worry about it," Sakura said gently. "We get it – duty calls and all that. We'll see you on Thursday at the meeting, ok?"

Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji left Gaara and his siblings as he began searching through an index of available Sand shinobi to send on yet another mission. As Sakura glanced back at the young Kazekage she felt a stab of guilt. Seeing the stress in Gaara's countenance, she wanted nothing more than to be able to knuckle down to her mission right away and try to put things right for this village. She sighed and followed Choji and Shikamaru as they made their way down the twisting stairs and out into the hot midday sun.

* * *

"Really this is a Jonin-level mission but most of our Jonin are either already on a mission or are laid-up in hospital," Gaara sighed as he flipped through the pages of available shinobi.

"What about Chunin?" Kankuro asked, leaning over his brother's shoulder to look at the lists.

Gaara shrugged. "From the sound of it, this is at least a B-ranked mission so the only ones that I would really trust to send are these five," he said, pushing forward the data sheets on two female and three male shinobi. "Problem is, I've already got three of them earmarked for a mission in Chiri." He bit his lip, considering his options. He looked over the requirements for the mission in Chiri then pulled out a list of available Genin.

"You can't be serious, Gaara!" Temari exclaimed. "You're not seriously considering sending a team of Genin on the Chiri mission?!"

"What choice do I have?" Gaara said irritably. "Besides, it won't be a team of just Genin. I'm going to send these two Genin with Yuuki Fujika and Jun Maruta. They're two of our village's best Chunin, not to mention Mamoru and Riku being two of our most promising Genin. I'm pretty sure that they can handle the Chiri mission."

Temari sighed. "I just hope you're right," she muttered. "So who're you gonna send on the Touki mission?"

"I'm thinking," Gaara replied. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, he leaned forward and highlighted two names from the sheets spread out before him.

"Daisuke and Kaede are both practically Jonin-level shinobi anyway so I'll send these two with you and Matsuri, Kankuro."

"Why me?" Kankuro exclaimed indignantly.

"Because you're one of the best Jonin this village has to offer and you'll make the perfect team leader for this particular mission," Gaara told him.

"Oh. Well that makes sense I suppose," Kankuro said, puffing up with pride at Gaara's praise. Temari rolled her eyes. Kankuro was so easy to get around and manipulate – all anyone had to do was massage his ego and he'd probably do virtually anything they asked of him.

Gaara quickly scribbled down messages and handed them to the two Chunin that had brought them news of the attack in Toukigakure. "Can you please deliver these messages to their recipients as soon as possible," Gaara asked them. The young men bowed and disappeared, leaving behind a trace of Ninjutsu smoke. When they were gone, he handed Kankuro the messages for his team. "Can I trust you to give your team a thorough debriefing of the mission?" He asked his older brother.

Kankuro nodded, taking the scrolls from Gaara. "When would you like us to leave?" he asked.

"As soon as possible, really," Gaara replied, "Tomorrow morning at the very latest."

Kankuro nodded again. "Understood," he said. Then he too was gone.

"By the way," Temari began carefully, sitting down in Sakura's vacated seat. "Why did you ask Sakura to recount what happened with Sasuke when we'll just be going over it again on Thursday? Don't you think that's a bit cruel?"

Gaara looked at her. "I never thought of it like that," he confessed sheepishly. "I just thought that maybe there was something that we might have missed the other night that she may have remembered after the shock and exhaustion had worn off."

"Really?" Temari asked dubiously.

"No, not really," Gaara admitted. "The main idea was to distract her from doing anything that could result in her causing herself further harm, to be honest." He shrugged. "besides, it was a long shot, I know but I genuinely thought that there may have been some little clue that we could use, something else that Sasuke might have given away, something that only someone like Sakura might have been able to pick up on given their history with each other"

Temari snorted. "Tch! Not likely with Sasuke Uchiha," she scoffed.

"Like I said, it was a long shot," Gaara replied, shrugging.

"You think you'll continue with Sakura tomorrow?" Temari asked, leaning back in her chair.

Gaara shrugged again. "Maybe. It was kind of nice, having her company today but I don't think I'm going to really have the time for anything like that if these attacks don't start to wane soon."

"How many more assignments have you got to allocate shinobi for"Temari asked.

"Five," Gaara replied. "And I'm scraping the barrel for Jonin and Chunin as it is so it'll really not be too long for I'll have no choice but to send teams of Genin on B-ranked missions." He sighed and buried his head in his hands. Temari stood up and walked around the desk to stand behind Gaara. She tentatively reached out and laid her hands gently on his shoulders, kneading the tense muscles in his shoulders.

"What am I going to do, Temari?" Gaara asked dejectedly.

"Weather this storm as best you can and trust in Sakura and her team of medics to help get our men and women back on their feet and back out there fighting and proving that we're still a strong village capable of protecting our country's people," Temari replied, hugging her younger brother tightly. "Konoha's a strong ally and we couldn't have hoped for a better medic than Sakura short of Lady Tsunade herself."

Gaara smiled. "I know," he said. "Sakura's one of the best medics I've ever met. I'm really glad she's here," he added.

Temari glanced at her baby brother in surprise. This was possibly the first time she'd known him to show an interest in a member of the opposite sex before. Maybe Sakura would be better for Suna and its Kazekage more than Temari had thought.

"Me too," she murmured. "Me too."


	6. Yamato's Distressing News

_Disclaimer:_ All characters are property of Kishimot. I'm merely borrowing them for a bit.

_Notes:_ Once again, thnaks to everyone who has reviewed. Also, this chapter has spoliers in it pertaining to recent developments in the manga for anyone not up to date with the manga and who doesn't want anything spoiled.

Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura and Gaara never did get around to picking up where they left off that afternoon. Gaara found himself once more snowed under with fresh requests for assistance and no shinobi to give the missions to, complaints about the lack of experience or suitability of the shinobi sent on previous missions, numerous reports coming in of badly injured shinobi and too many occasions where he had to inform someone's family that their son/daughter/spouse/sibling had passed away, leaving him barely time to eat and sleep never mind anything else.

Sakura, meanwhile, found her time consumed with spending more and more time with Shikamaru and Choji as Temari found herself spending more time assisting her brother.

Yamato arrived in Suna the day before the conference, a familiar face that Sakura was pleased to see again even if he was rather elusive when she tried wheedling out of him the news from Konoha that he brought.

"Oh come on, Captain Yamato, why can't you tell me?" Sakura pleaded with him as the four Leaf shinobi sat huddled around one table in a crowded restaurant.

"One-" Yamato replied, holding up a finger in front of her face, "I don't like repeating myself. The conference is less than twenty-four hours away, I'm sure it won't kill you to wait until then. Reason number two-" he held up a second finger. "Under current circumstances, I hardly think a place as public as this would be the right place to discuss such matters."

"Well can you at least tell me if there's been any word from Iwa yet?" Sakura demanded.

Yamato's eyes clouded over and he quickly looked away from her, feigning a sudden interest in his bowl of ramen.

"There is, isn't there?" Sakura asked excitedly. When there was no reply, she took it as a yes. "Well, is everyone alright? No one's hurt, are they? What about Naruto and Kakashi, are they alright?"

"Tomorrow," Yamato replied quietly. "I'll tell you everything tomorrow."

"Yamato, what's happened to them?" Sakura begged, panic and fear competing for dominance in her mind. "Yamato, please!"

"Not here, Sakura," Yamato said tensely, speaking louder than he intended. He smiled apologetically as a family glanced at their table.

"Just tell me that they're alive," Sakura said quietly, once the family's attention had returned to their own affairs.

After a long pause, Yamato replied. "Yes, they are." He smiled reassuringly at Sakura, but his pause and the worry in his eyes didn't leave Sakura very convinced. She pushed her plate away, her appetite suddenly vanished as a cold, hard lump of fear settled in her stomach instead.

"I'm done," she said, pushing her chair back and leaving a fistful of money on the table beside her plate. "I'm heading back to the apartment. I guess I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Wait, I'll walk you-" Shikamaru started, beginning to get to his feet.

"No, you stay," Sakura told him. "Enjoy your meal. I'll be fine, promise."

"Ok, if you're sure…" Shikamaru said dubiously.

Sakura smiled tightly and nodded, making her way silently to the exit. Shikamaru sat back down and all three of them watched their companion as she wrapped her jacket around herself to protect her from the cold desert wind.

"Are you sure one of us shouldn't go after her?" Choji asked as they watched Sakura disappear around the corner.

"Sakura's a big girl, I'm sure she can manage to get home unattended," Yamato reminded them. "She's a fully-trained kunoichi trained by the Hokage herself, I'm sure there's nothing going to happen to her that Sakura can't handle."

"It's not that that I'm worried about," Choji muttered, returning to his food. "Well if we're not going after her, I might as well go for that extra order of barbeque pork!"

Yamato blanched. He was really regretting offering to treat everyone to dinner now as he watched Choji begin to demolish his fourth plate of barbequed meat.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she unlocked the door to the apartment and let herself in. She leaned against the door for a moment as she caught her breath, then headed straight for her bedroom where she'd left most of her scrolls. Finding the one she wanted, she took it into the next room and sat cross-legged on the couch.

She'd hurried home as fast as possible; quickening her pace once she's got out of sight of the restaurant. If Yamato wasn't gonna tell her what had happened to her team mates that, damn it, Sakura was gonna find out for herself! A few years ago, not long after Pein's attack on Konoha that had left many of Konoha's finest shinobi either dead or grievously injured in his hunt for Naruto and the Kyuubi inside him, Sakura had approached Naruto and Kakashi and asked them about their summons. She had been thinking about making a contract with a summon animal for several months prior to that and had always thought that if she ever did, it would be the healing slugs which Tsunade summoned. Instead, she found herself wishing for something that would strengthen her bonds with her team mates and would allow a different manner of communication if they ever found themselves separated.

Kakashi had offered to train her in learning and using the summoning jutsu and had even offered her the chance to sign a contract with his summon dogs but in the end Sakura had chosen to share the same summon as Naruto and had signed a contract with the toads. Ino had ribbed her about it for _months_ after she found out, finding it hard to believe that Sakura would choose a warty toad over a dog that she could pet. That was, until Sakura reminded her of the Inuzuka clan's affinity with dogs and the subsequent "doggy" smell that none of them could really shake, not to mention the fact that Pakkun and the rest of Kakashi's hounds weren't exactly the type of canine to appreciate being fussed over.

It was this very summoning technique that she had learned with her two team mates that Sakura was turning to now. Biting down on her thumb hard enough to draw blood, she opened the scroll and dragged her thumb across the surface, after performing the relevant hand signs.

With an audible _'pop', _a small orange toad appeared in Sakura's apartment.

"Ah, Pinky!" the toad exclaimed. "I thought it might be you. So what can I do for you?"

"Gamakichi, it's good to see you again," Sakura greeted the toad politely. "I need you to tell me how Naruto, Kakashi and Sai are doing in Iwa. Is everyone ok? Have they run into any problems yet?"

She swore that the little toad smirked knowingly. "So you're checking in, eh? It's been, what? Eight days now? I'm impressed – I was expecting you to be checking in every other day at least. Just can't stop worrying about Loverboy for a second, can you?"

"OH SHUT UP!" Sakura snapped, blushing furiously. "He's not my loverboy! I'm just…worried about him – about them all. Look, can you tell me if everyone's ok or not?"

"Naruto summoned Pa a few days ago. He said afterwards that there was a hell of a fight going on when he got there, and Naruto had already gone two-tails in his Kyuubi transformation with Pa was summoned."

"Did he say who they were fighting?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"He said that they were Akatsuki but he didn't tell me any more. He didn't say much to me but he did send a message to Granny Tsunade after the fight was over so it musta been pretty serious."

"And Naruto? Was he alright?" Sakura asked

"I think so," Gamakichi replied. "At least, if the kid had died, then Pops woulda said something when he came home."

Sakura let out a breath that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. "Well that's a relief," she said. Then another thought struck her. "What about everyone else? Did they survive the fight?"

Gamakichi fell silent for a moment. "Pops said that the pale guy that normally hangs around with you two looked alright – at least, there was nothing wrong with him that a good healer couldn't fix easily enough. The older guy though…" the toad hesitated, not entirely sure how to break the news to Sakura. "Pops said that he didn't look too hot the last time he saw him. In fact, he said that it didn't look as if he was gonna make it."

"Kakashi…" Sakura whispered weakly. She felt herself go hot then cold in rapid succession as the news of her teacher and captain's possible death sent a numbing wave of shock through her system. She felt tears threatening to spill over as she fell back against the couch, taking in what Gamakichi had told her. Naruto and Sai were safe but Kakashi…no. "NO!" she said out loud, starting the toad beside her. "There's no way Kakashi could possibly lose, not to some ragtag bunch of criminals! It's just not possible…"

Gamakichi shrugged. "You know him better than what I do, Pinky. I'm just telling ya what Pops told me. If it means anything to ya, the rest of their squad, you know, Bug Boy, the guy with the dog and the girl with the boobs, they're all fine. Dog Boy had some pretty ugly wounds, Pops said but they looked like they'll heal." He watched the young woman nervously. He wasn't very good with dealing with emotions, least of all those belonging to a human girl barely out of her teens and he didn't really want to be here when the shock of learning about her friend's imminent death wore off. "Um, if that's all you wanted…"

"Hmm?" Sakura glanced at him distractedly. "Oh. Yes that's all. Thank you." She returned her gaze to her knees, barely registering the _'pop'_ that meant that Gamakichi had gone. _Kakashi…defeated. _She slumped forward, her chin resting on top of her knees. She could barely even conceive of the idea of returning to Konoha and her sensei not being there anymore, couldn't comprehend the notion that she might return home to see a too-familiar name added to the list of names carved into the memorial stone.

She didn't know how long she had sat in that same position before she mechanically went through the motions of locking up, cleaning herself up before bed, undressing and crawling under the covers of her bed, hardly thinking about what she was doing, only able to think of her team mates miles and miles away from her, injured, dying and here she was, utterly incapable of doing anything to help them.

"_Kakashi,_" she whispered into the darkness of the room. She covered her face with her hand as the dam broke and the tears that had been looming ever since Gamakichi had broke the news finally spilled over. Sakura rolled onto her side and sobbed until her ribs ached from the effort. There in the dark, where no one else could see, she let her heart break for the teacher who had become her captain who had become one of her closest friends and allies until she finally cried herself to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, there was no sign to show the distress that Sakura had felt the night before when she met her fellow Leaf shinobi outside the little eatery that they had been meeting at for breakfast.

"Morning," she greeted Shikamaru and Choji, stopping in front of them.

"Morning," they both chorused. Sakura watched as they both exchanged glances and knew exactly what they were gonna ask.

"Um, are you ok, Sakura?" Choji asked carefully, watching her face for a reaction.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sakura replied, a neutral expression on her face. Strangely enough, she sort of was. She was still worried about her team mates, especially Kakashi but she'd decided that, seeing as there was nothing she could do, worrying about it wasn't going to help her complete her own mission as well as she was capable of. She just had to trust in Hinata's healing abilities and Kakashi's own resilience and ability to bounce back in due time. Having a good cry last night had also helped her break through her guilt over Ibamoui's death and the situation with Sasuke. In fact, Sakura had woken up this morning and felt a determination return to her that she hadn't felt since she'd arrived in Suna. She _would_ carry out her mission successfully, she _was_ going to fix things for Gaara and leave him with a medical team to be proud of and she _would _be home in Konoha reunited with all her team mates in eight months' time and everything would be back to normal. A determined scowl had passed across her features, causing Choji and Shikamaru to step away from her uncertainly.

"So are we getting breakfast or what?" Sakura asked, pushing past them to nab a table before the place started filling up.

Choji glanced at Shikamaru, who just shrugged. He'd given up trying to figure out women's reactions to things and the swiftness in which they got over things or the strange things that they held grudges that lasted for years over when he'd been dating Ino. He'd just chalked it up as being too troublesome to even bother.

"Maaan, what a drag," he yawned as he took a seat opposite Sakura. "Who in their right minds has a meeting so early!"

"The meeting's not til twelve," Sakura reminded him.

"So why the hell am I getting up at nine for?" Shikamaru asked, grumpily, glaring across at the culprit who was sitting down beside Sakura.

"To give you plenty of time to eat a hearty breakfast before the meeting starts," Choji replied calmly as a waitress made her way over to their table.

"Not all of us need to eat five breakfasts at once to start to day," Shikamaru grumbled as Choji began to give the waitress his usual mammoth order.

"So…you're looking a lot better, Sakura," Shikamaru commented as the two of them sat drinking cups of green tea while they waiting for Choji to finish his breakfast.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better, actually."

"What happened last night?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

Sakura shrugged, looking down at her cup. "I just had a lot on my mind, that's all. Yamato's words just must have brought everything to a head last night and I just needed some time on my own to deal with it."

Shikamaru tapped his fingers against his own cup thoughtfully, watching Sakura as she fought to look anywhere but at him. _She knows something,_ he thought, narrowing his eyes.

"You share the same summon as Naruto, don't you?" He asked her suddenly, making Sakura glance over at him in surprise.

"Uh…what?" She asked dumbly.

"Toads." Shikamaru reminded her. "You and Naruto both summon toads, don't you?"

"Oh. Um. Yes," Sakura admitted, looking down at her cup again.

Shikamaru resumed his tapping, working out the best way the phrase the next question. He glanced across at Choji, who had stopped eating and was watching the two of them intently.

"Did you, ah…did you speak to any of them last night?" Shikamaru asked. "About what Yamato had said, I mean?"

"Um, yeah," Sakura murmured, reusing to meet his eyes.

"And?" Shikamaru pushed, leaning forward eagerly. "What did they say?"

Sakura finally met his eyes – then looked past him at something over his shoulder. "Temari!" She called out, standing up and waving her arms to get her attention.

Shikamaru sighed in frustration as the oldest of the Sand siblings joined them, effectively distracting Sakura from his question.

"What's up with you, Miseryguts?" Temari asked him, nudging him in the ribs as she took the seat beside him.

"Nothing," Shikamaru replied. "Just pissed about being dragged out of bed so early." As if to prove how unreasonable an hour that he'd gotten up, he gave a jaw-popping yawn.

Sakura pulled a face. "Geez, could you at least cover your mouth when you do that? I got a good enough look at your tonsils during your last check-up, I don't wanna see them again while I'm having breakfast." She complained.

Shikamaru stuck his tongue out at her, ignoring Temari's giggles beside him.

"So what were you guys discussing, looking so intense?" She asked, straightening her face when Shikamaru shot her an irritated glare.

"Nothing," Sakura replied innocently.

"We were just discussing the news that Yamato has brought," Shikamaru butted in, glancing across at Sakura. "Sakura was just about to tell us what she learned last night from one of hers and Naruto's toad summons. Weren't you?"

Sakura squirmed under the group's sudden scrutiny. "It's difficult," she said uncomfortably. "I didn't really find out that much, really. All I was interested in was everyone's safety."

"Well?" Choji pushed. "What did you find out?"

"Like I said, not much. Nothing that Yamato won't be able to tell us in more detail at the meeting. So maybe we should all just wait until then," Sakura snapped, hunching her shoulders defensively and staring resolutely at the table.

"But everyone is alright, aren't they?" Shikamaru asked. He watched his friend's shoulders slump and close her eyes. He took a deep breathe. "Naruto?" He asked.

Sakura's fingers clenched around her cup, but she shook her head.

"Kakashi." Shikamaru made it a statement, rather than a question. Despite her friendship with the three members of team eight or even her bonds with Sai, none of them were as close to Sakura as Naruto and Kakashi and only something happening to them could cause Sakura so much grief and worry.

Sakura's head dropped to her chest, eyes tightly closed. Her grip around that cup tightened so much that it smashed under the pressure. She swore under her breathe as she shook the droplet of tea off her skin and picked out shards of porcelain from the cuts in her hand before she began to heal them.

"There was a fight," she said quietly while she concentrated on focusing healing chakra into her hand. "Naruto, Sai, Hinata and Shino were relatively unharmed other than a few cuts and bruises. Kiba and Akamaru sustained more serious injuries but they'll live. Kakashi was grievously wounded and was in critical condition. I don't know if he's still alive or not."

Silence descended on the table as the group took this information in. None of them quite knew what to do or say to Sakura. Temari reached out tentatively across the table, then changed her mind and pulled her hand back into her lap.

"I'm sorry." Shikamaru said simply. He and Choji both knew the grief of losing a beloved teacher and captain. It had been five years but they all, Ino included, still missed Asuma's presence. If Kakashi really was dead, then Shikamaru could sympathise with the heartache that Sakura and Naruto would experience.

"Do you know who attacked them?" Choji asked quietly.

Sakura shook her head. "No. That's why I don't want to miss our meeting with Yamato and Gaara," she said firmly, finishing off healing her hand and nodding at the clock which read ten forty-five. "Once everyone has finished eating, we can leave. The earlier we can start the better."

* * *

Half an hour later, the four young shinobi were loitering outside the Kazekage tower as they waited for the sixth member of their group to arrive.

"I hear that things have been pretty hectic at Kazekage headquarters," Sakura said to Temari. "How's Gaara handling it?"

"As well as possible, under the circumstances," Temari replied said. "Myself and Kankuro have been picking up a lot of slack for him lately, though. I think the pressure is starting to get to him now, to be honest." She sighed deeply, shaking her head. "I worry about Gaara. It might sound like a cruel thing to suggest but we still don't know entirely how stable Gaara has become. He spent a lot of years tied to that-that…monster. No one really knows how deeply that has affected him psychologically. I know that Gaara would never do anything to harm Suna or its inhabitants intentionally but…I've been seeing signs of the old Gaara re-emerging over the past few weeks."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing really bad," Temari replied hurriedly. "Just little things like his coldness, the way he used to stare at nothing, that perpetual scowl; like he wishes the world would hurry up and leave him in peace."

"He hasn't been sleeping very much since this all began, has he?" Sakura asked. "I noticed the shadows under his eyes the first time I saw him the day we arrived.

Temari shook her head. "He's hardly had time to," she replied. "It's like, for the past couple of months, he's been carrying the weight of not just the village hidden in the sand but the entire Wind country on his shoulders."

Sakura frowned, unhappy to hear that Gaara had been struggling for so long. "Well I'll just have to see what I can do to make things easier for him," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

"Are we all here?" A voice behind them asked. Sakura and Temari both turned to see Yamato striding across the street towards them.

"Yep." Temari confirmed. "The only person not here from the first meeting is Kankuro, but he's out on mission so he won't be here. If everyone's ready, we may as well all head inside. Shikamaru, you know where the conference room that we used last time is, right? If you can lead everyone else in that direction then I'll go see if I can chase Gaara up to start the meeting a bit earlier." At Shikamaru's nod of acquiescence, she shared a tender smile with him then ran ahead of them up the winding staircase.

"Lead on, Loverboy," Choji said jokingly, dodging Shikamaru's swipe at his head.

Sakura laughed, listening to Choji's teasing as she followed the pair up the stairs.

Her good humour evaporated immediately however the moment she laid eyes on Gaara when he stepped into the room. She could tell straight away that he had not bothered shaving since the last time she'd seen him and would be very surprised if he'd even showered or bathed, judging from the dull, lank and matted condition of his hair. His skin looked paler than usual and the dark circles under his eyes even more pronounced than when she's first laid eyes on him. Gaara's eyes met hers then he quickly looked away, rubbing his hand over his mouth to disguise a scowl of displeasure at whatever he had seen in her eyes.

"If everyone is here, please take your seats and lets get this over with," he said tiredly, taking his own seat rather heavily.

"If it would be easier for you, we could leave this for another day when it's more convenient," Sakura suggested tentatively, as the rest of the Leaf shinobi glanced at each other in surprise at Gaara's rather terse 'greeting.'

Gaara glanced at her angrily for a second before turning away. "There _is_ no other more convenient time," he snapped. "It is only by mere chance that I have managed to keep this time clear from any other commitments as it is so I would greatly prefer it if instead of trying to be Miss-Fix-It, you would just sit down and shut up until your thoughts are actually needed."

Sakura recoiled from him, taken aback by his aggression. "My apologies, Lord Kazekage," she said, coldly polite. "I will not speak so out of turn again." Bowing formally to him, she stiffly took the seat farthest away from Gaara and stared resolutely down at her hands, her cheeks burning with shame.

Temari stared at her brother in shock. _He must be feeling the strain pretty badly to react like this, _she thought. _I've never seen him act that cold and nasty since he still had Shukaku inside him._ She coughed, clearing her throat and breaking the awkward silence that had descended.

"Besides, we have already kept Shikamaru and Choji long enough," she said. "Under current circumstances, I'm sure that the Hokage would rather have them back in Konoha as soon as possible in case Konoha and the Fire country soon find themselves under attack."

The three men mumbled vague noises of agreement. No one seemed to know quite where to look. Oh, they were used to outbursts like that from Lady Tsunade, particularly when Naruto or Konohomaru were in the same room as her but at least her outbursts never felt quite so nasty or unnecessary.

Gaara stared at the tabletop, reluctant to meet the questioning and disapproving looks he knew were being thrown his way. Finally looking up, he glanced over at Sakura. She was sitting silently, back ramrod-straight, staring at her folded hands, head turned away from him. He bit his lip and frowned. He hadn't meant to take his temper out on her but now it was too late to take back what he'd done. He cleared his throat and redirected his look at Yamato, who was also watching Sakura with an expression almost like concern on his face.

"Captain Yamato, if you would like to start us off by divulging the information that you have brought from Konoha?"

Yamato glanced down the table at him and nodded. "Right."

Sakura finally looked up from her hands when Yamato began to speak. She listened intently as he told the rest of the group pretty much what she had learned from Gamakichi the previous night, filling in the blanks that the toad summon hadn't been able to recall. It turned out that about half a day's journey from Iwa, Team Seven and Team Eight had gotten separated after a member of Team Eight had alerted the rest of the group to their being followed. Not long after Team Eight had taken off to track down whoever was following them Naruto, Kakashi and Sai had been attacked and outnumbered by a group of rouge ninjas, some of which were wearing the red and black robes of the Akatsuki and bore the Rain village headband. Two of the group that attacked them was Konan and one of Pein's remaining bodies. A fierce and bloody battle had then broken out between the three Leaf shinobi and the five rouge ninjas.

Team Eight had joined the battle after discovering that they had been deceived into being separated from Team Seven, but not before Naruto had already gone two-tailed Kyuubi and Kakashi had already sustained serious injury. Further to this, he seemingly used up all of his chakra protecting Kiba from the worst of Pein's attack. Pein and Konan escaped not long after this, having discovered that they were now the outnumbered ones and that their allies were not as resilient or well-trained as the Leaf shinobi which they were fighting. That was the last communication from the group that Yamato was aware of before he had left once again for Suna.

"So no one knows yet if Captain Kakashi still lives or not?" Shikamaru asked.

Yamato shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"While it is most distressing to hear of the probable demise of one of Konoha's greatest shinobi, I fail to see what this news could have to do with Suna's current crisis." Gaara interjected.

"It could have everything or nothing to do with Suna's crisis," Yamato replied, watching Sakura's hands balling into fists at the sound of Gaara's cold estimation of Kakashi's survival chances. "While we can't rule out the likelihood that the attack on Kakashi's team was merely another attempt to take Naruto and withdraw the Kyuubi's spirit from inside him, we also can't rule out that these may have been either the start of Akatsuki's attacks on Konoha and the Fire country itself or the attempts to prevent our Shinobi from aiding Iwa, thus further damaging the somewhat fragile relationship between the two villages. Iwa has been suffering similar problems as Suna, Lord Kazekage and, lest you forget, the Earth country borders the Rain country just as much as the Wind country, making it just as much of an easily accessible target."

"I see," Gaara said, feeling thoroughly chastised. He'd been so wrapped up in his own village's problems, that he'd almost forgotten that there were other countries and hidden villages that might be suffering the same as Suna.

Temari glanced across at Sakura. The younger woman looked up and met her eyes.

"It looks like Sasuke really _was_ telling the truth," Temari said. Sakura nodded in agreement.

Yamato looked at Sakura, seeing already the tiny seed of hope for her old team mate begin to bud anew. It worried him, how easily Sasuke Uchiha could toy with this girl's emotions, building up her hopes, tormenting her with his cryptically mixed signals, then utterly destroy not just her hopes of him finally repenting but her confidence in her own abilities and sense of judgement. He dreaded Naruto learning of this development because Sasuke could get to him and destroy his faith in his abilities even more surely that he could with Sakura.

"Sakura, is it possible that Sasuke was following Akatsuki orders the night of your capture?" Gaara asked cautiously.

"I don't think so," Sakura replied, equally cautious.

"Why?"

"Because it would seem all too convoluted if all he wanted to do with prevent us from reaching Suna."

"I agree, it doesn't fit Sasuke's style," Shikamaru added. "If he wanted to stop us from reaching Suna, he would have just killed us all while we slept."

Gaara sat back, considering Shikamaru and Sakura's words and letting this new information regarding Akatsuki sink in.

"I suppose you're both right," he said at last.

"Well, with your news Yamato, I hardly feel like there is any need to attempt to pick apart any more the events of your encounter with Team Hawk. All the same, if there is anything else that anyone can recall that might be of importance, now would be the time to say so." He watched everyone else shake their heads. He stared at Sakura, or rather, the side of her head. "Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head, refusing to look up.

"No."

Gaara stared at her for a long moment, mentally willing her to at least look up and him and address him to his face. Eventually he sighed and shook his head.

"Well if that is all, then this meeting is adjourned," he said.

With an almost tangible sense of relief, everyone all but leapt from their seats and began hurrying out of the room to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere in that room.

"Sakura, could you wait a moment?" Gaara asked, before she could disappear from the room.

Sakura hesitated, for a moment contemplating ignoring his request, then sighed and stood impatiently next to her chair while the room emptied, leaving the two of them alone.

A heavy silence descended between them until Gaara finally broke the silence.

"Sakura, I-"

"I believe that now that I am well, you will want me to begin work as soon as possible," Sakura interrupted him. "I will need a full run-through of my duties and where it is that you would like me to start first thing tomorrow. I trust that Dr Uogami has all the relevant information ready for me to report to him tomorrow morning."

"Yes, I passed on the information the day you arrived," Gaara said distractedly. "Sakura, wait!" He said desperately as she began walking towards the door. He leapt to his feet and walked around the table to intercept her.

"I'm sorry," he began. "About before. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. It's just that's I've – things have been-" He sighed, cutting himself off. "I shouldn't have taken my mood out on you. I know that you just want to help."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgment, still looking away from him.

He stared down at Sakura in consternation. She was still refusing to look at him. "Will you at least look at me?" He asked irritably. He heard her take a deep breath before she looked up to meet his eyes and was surprised to see the amount of poorly disguised anger in her gaze.

"How long are you going to stay mad at me for this?" He asked quietly.

"I'm not mad at you," Sakura replied churlishly.

"Yes, you are." Gaara contradicted.

Sakura looked down at the ground again. "I'm not mad at you for being rude earlier." She muttered.

"Then why in all the Gods' names am I being treated with such hostility?" Gaara exclaimed in exasperation. _This is why I never bothered with women,_ he thought to himself. _They're far roo complicated to understand!_

Sakura slowly raised her head to look him square in the eye, this time not even bothering to hide her hostility. "Why don't you think real hard," she ground out between tightly clenched teeth.

Gaara frowned down at her, confusion furrowing his forehead. Then realisation dawned.

"Ah."

He stared at her, unsure what to say to make amends. Ever practical, Gaara had realised along with everyone else that if Kakashi had used up all of his chakra then the chances of him surviving that were less than five percent at best. Gaara knew that and he knew that, deep down, Sakura knew that too but she was still clutching to that slim five percent chance that her friend and mentor could still survive. Staring into Sakura's eyes, looking past the anger, Gaara could see the scared, uncertain girl terrified at the prospect of losing another team mate.

Sakura watched that realisation and guilt cloud his eyes and felt her anger bubbling close to blind fury when she saw pity replace his guilt. He still thought that Kakashi was done for. _What does _he_ know, _she thought furiously. _He doesn't know Kakashi like me._

Balling her hands tightly into fists, until she could feel her nails digging into her flesh, she stepped towards Gaara, standing so close to him that their noses were practically touching.

"Captain Kakashi is not going to die," she hissed through gritted teeth.

Gaara could do nothing except stare into her rage-filled eyes. He opened his mouth, looking for the right words to say to appease her, something that wouldn't feel like a lie when the sound of the door opening behind him broke the moment.

"Lord Kazekage, I have a – ah…" They both turned around to see one of the village's messengers watching them uncertainly. "Is this a bad time?"

Gaara blinked hard twice in at attempt to gather his bearings. "Ah…no. No, not at all." He looked back at Sakura and bowed formally to her.

"You can leave now Sakura," he said. "You're dismissed."

Sakura bowed stiffly then stalked out of the room, nearly knocking the messenger over in her hurry to get away.

Gaara sighed heavily, watching her walk away.

"What's the message?" He asked the messenger wearily.

* * *

The walk back to her apartment passed in a blur for Sakura as she silently fumed at Gaara's cold acceptance of Kakashi's fate.

_How _dare_ he, _she thought furiously, slamming the door behind her and stomping into the bedroom.

_He doesn't even _know_ him, how can he possibly _think_ to assume that Kakashi isn't strong enough to weather this, just like all his other injuries when everyone else thought that he was goner. _Throwing her clothes haphazardly in the direction of the laundry basket, she yanked a towel around herself and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

_I hate him, _she thought, turning on the shower and waiting impatiently for the water to heat up. _I hate him! How does he know that Kakashi won't survive this? Who the hell is the medic around here! Kakashi still has a chance, he could still be alive!_

"Who am I kidding?" she muttered to herself, allowing the tears to fall as she stood under the hot water pounding off her skin and rinsing the tears away.


	7. So This is What Hell Looks Like

**Disclaimer:**** All characters and settings belong to Kishimoto. I'm merely....ah, you know the drill!**

**Auther's Notes: I'm soooo sorry for the delay guys! I was trying to wait things out to discover Kakashi's fate (which still hasn't been confirmed yet), then I got caught up plotting out an original piece of fiction that I've had bubbling away in the back of my mind for the past few years. I promise that I'll try my best to update more often now. I'm not so keen on the end of this chapter though. I know where I want this to go but I'm struggling a little with the build-up. So if you feel like it, let me know your thoughts...am I moving the plot along too slowly or are you guys happy with the current pacing? Ta lots, and enjoy the chapter!!!! ^_^**

**Just as an aside, has anyone twigged where this story's title comes from yet?**

* * *

It was with a heavy heart that Sakura greeted the following day. After all, this was the day that she would be bidding farewell to Yamato, Shikamaru and Choji, along with all that was familiar to her for the next eight months. For all intents and purposes, for the remainder of the year, Sakura was now a kunoichi of Suna and subject to Gaara's commands. After yesterday's debacle, this was something that she was looking forward to even less than she had been before. Sakura knew that she had effectively pushed away the only friends that she had in this dry, dusty village but she simply couldn't bring herself to apologise to Gaara just yet, not this close to him crushing all hope she had of returning home to find Kakashi alive and well and her team intact.

Yamato had come by to check on her not long after Sakura had left the Kazekage's building but she had ignored his knocking until he had eventually gone away. She had even ignored Shikamaru, Choji and Temari's attempts to see her, preferring to be left alone to wallow in her self-pity. It was an action that Sakura now sorely regretted when she thought about how long she would be separated from her friends and family.

Getting dressed Sakura briefly considering garbing herself entirely in black as an act of mourning, not just for Kakashi, but for the loss of everything familiar that she was sacrificing for this stupid mission. Then, mentally shaking herself for such a childish thought, Sakura dressed herself in suitable attire for the day's hard slog ahead in Suna's cramped, overheated hospital; black shorts, pink tank top and black shinobi sandals. Pulling her hair back into a neat pony tail at the base of her neck and her Konoha headband in place, holding her bangs off her forehead, Sakura felt as ready as she'd ever be to face the day ahead. Leaving her apartment, Sakura made her way to Suna's gates, where Yamato, Shikamaru and Choji would be meeting before heading home.

Yamato and Choji were already there when Sakura arrived. She stopped in front of them, staring sheepishly at her feet and waiting for one of them to speak first.

"Hey Sakura," Choji said, breaking the silence. "How're you feeling this morning?"

Sakura shrugged. "OK, I guess. As good as can be expected under the circumstances, anyway." She glanced at Yamato, then back at Choji. "I'm really gonna miss you guys, though. I'm…sorry. That I ignored you last night when you came by."

"Nah, it's cool," Choji said, waving away her apology. "We all understood. Some people need to be alone after hearing bad news like that."

Sakura shook her head. "It was still stupid. Last night was my last night with all of you for gods know how long and I blew it because I was too busy sulking."

"If it's any consolation," Yamato said, "Under current circumstances there will no doubt be more communications between Konoha and Suna, so it may not be as long as you think before you see another familiar face. Besides, the Chunin exams are coming up in the summer and its Suna's turn to host them this time."

"See, so there's something for you to look forward to," Choji added.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, you're right." She said brightly.

Yamato smiled. He had worried about Sakura last night after telling her that her captain and former teacher may be dead, but seeing her now he knew that he had been worrying over nothing. A true Konoha shinobi, she endured whatever hardship life threw at her and bounced back twice as strong as before, her will to succeed, survive and protect overruling her initial emotional reactions.

"So when are you supposed to be leaving?" Sakura asked them.

"As soon as Shikamaru deigns to show up," Yamato told her. He looked past her shoulder and pushed away from the post he'd been leaning on. "Ah! And here's the Lazy Genius now."

Sakura turned around to see Shikamaru approaching them with Temari. She smiled fondly, noting their clasped hands.

"So you finally bothered to show up, eh?" Choji asked when they got within earshot.

"Well _I _suggested leaving it until this afternoon before setting off," Shikamaru replied sourly, obviously still feeling disgruntled about being up so early.

"And _you _also know why setting off any later is unacceptable," Yamato said. "Besides not being able to make much progress before nightfall, if we'd left any later there would be no way of saying goodbye to Sakura before we left – something we'd all learn to sorely regret the next time she saw us, I'm sure."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Sakura protested, as everyone else started to laugh.

"Yeah, that's true, that is a little unfair, Yamato," Shikamaru agreed sombrely, straightening his face. "There's much worse than Sakura out there." Sakura nodded smugly in agreement.

"Like what?" Choji asked incredulously.

"Well…I've heard rhinos are pretty bad when they get a headache," Shikamaru replied straight-faced, before giving up the act and laughing again.

"Why you-!" Sakura exclaimed, swiping at his head. She shook her head, finally joining in with everyone else's laughter. "I don't know why I put up with you lot, you're all horrible to me!" She exclaimed.

"Aw, you know we love you really," Temari replied, slinging her arm around Sakura's neck and pulling the younger girl towards her.

"Hmph!" Was all Sakura had to say on the subject.

"So how are you today, anyway?" Shikamaru asked her once everyone's laughter had faded.

"I'm fine," Sakura replied. "Completely bummed about saying goodbye to you guys but I'll live."

"Yeah. Besides, you got me to look after you," Temari replied, nudging her shoulder.

Sakura looked at her. "So, you're not mad at me after arguing with Gaara last night?" She asked.

Temari hesitated before answering. "No really. I was a little pissed at you for adding another strain to him last night but I totally understand why you blew up at him like that. Anyway, it's not as if he was any fairer to you, snapping at you like that." She cocked her head to one side, watching Sakura's face. "He feels really guilty by the way, for hurting you."

Sakura looked down at her feet, shrugging. "Not his fault, I guess," she mumbled.

"Yeah it is," Temari replied bluntly. "He's a tactless, grumpy idiot who still has a lot to learn about people." Sakura smiled, chuckling softly. Temari grinned at her then thumped her lightly on the shoulder. "So no hard feelings, eh? I know what my brothers are like better than anyone, and I know that neither of them are exactly the easiest people to get along with. Just…be patient with Gaara, ok? None of us are having that easy a ride right now, and he's feeling the strain most of all."

Sakura nodded. "I'll try," she promised.

"So are we gonna hit the road, then?" Yamato asked, hoisting his pack onto his shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess we'd better get moving." Shikamaru said reluctantly. He turned to Sakura and grasped her by the shoulders. "You take care of yourself, you hear?" He told her firmly.

Sakura nodded. "I will." She leaned forward, giving him a brief hug. "I'm gonna miss you guys," she said huskily, her emotions already beginning to get the better of her.

Shikamaru gave her a quick squeeze then let her go. Sakura turned towards Choji, who engulfed her in a bone-popping hug. "Give my love to Ino when you get back, alright?" She told him once she could breathe again. Finally, she turned to Yamato and held her hand out to him.

"It's been good to see you again, Captain Yamato," she said. "Take care of yourself until I get back, ok?"

Yamato smiled at her. "Agreed," he said.

The three of them turned and looked at Shikamaru and Temari, who were looking at each other rather tentatively. Yamato and Sakura exchanged a knowing look. _Give them a moment alone, _was what they were both thinking.

"Right, we'll get moving," Yamato said. "Shikamaru, you can catch up. We'll wait for you just outside the village walls, ok? Try not to be too long though."

Shikamaru looked at him in surprise and looked as though he would have protested, had Yamato and Choji not have already begun walking away through the gates. Sakura watched them go until they disappeared through the gates. She glanced back at Shikamaru and Temari who were still standing together awkwardly, both looking anywhere but at each other. She smiled and wondered how long it would be before they felt comfortable enough to be more open about their relationship.

"Right, I'm gonna head to the hospital and get settled in. I'll see you later, Temari," she said, already beginning to walk away.

"Yeah. Oh, Sakura!" Temari said, calling Sakura back.

"Hmm?" Sakura stopped, glanced back at her.

"If you have time later on, I think Gaara might want a word with you at some point. Something about new orders."

Sakura sighed inwardly. She'd been _hoping_ to avoid Gaara for a few days. "Ok," she said brightly, instead. Then, turning her back on Temari and Shikamaru, she began to make her way to the hospital. She glanced back at them as she reached the end of the street and smiled, seeing them locked in a tight embrace. _It must be nice, having someone to care for you like that,_ she thought to herself. Sakura herself had never really been in a proper relationship. The closest she had come had been her brief fling with Shikamaru back when they were seventeen and even that could hardly count as a relationship. She knew that, if asked to define it, they'd both refer to each other as "kissing buddies." She wondered, briefly, what it would feel like to care for someone that way, and actually have them care about her in the same way then dismissed the thought immediately. She didn't have time to worry about romance and besides, she'd already given up any hope of anyone being attracted to her who she wouldn't end up driving away with her caustic temper and lack of patience.

She stopped in front of the Kazekage tower and considered seeing Gaara first before carrying on the hospital and just getting it over with, but changed her mind. Better to get the first day over with while she was still in a relatively good mood, rather than risk having another disagreement with Gaara and going into work in a foul mood. _Besides,_ she told herself, _maybe keeping myself busy and doing something familiar will help take my mind off things and put me in a better mood to deal with him._ She carried on to the hospital without a second glance at the building, not seeing the figure standing at one of the windows watching her as she weaved through the crowded street.

* * *

It was disorganised chaos as Sakura walked through the doors of Suna's hospital. The reception area was packed full of the walking wounded and concerned family members, gurneys were lining the corridors as far as Sakura could see, each one bearing a body either writhing in pain or lying disturbingly still. All around her was a cacophony of the cries and moans of those in pain. Sakura stepped back to let a team of nurses rush past her through the doors bearing yet another gurney, the doctor barking orders which merely seemed to consist of directing them to the nearest available space.

Sakura stared around her in horror for a few stunned moments, unable to believe her eyes. It hadn't seemed this bad when she'd come in! Then again, she had been ushered in through one of the side entrances that led to the regular doctor's rooms. _What the hell has Gaara been doing before he sent for us? Sticking his fingers in his ears and hoping it'll all go away? _Sakura thought furiously, shaking her head in disbelief. Frowning, Sakura marched determinedly up to the harried-looking woman manning the reception desk. The woman looked up at her in trepidation, perhaps sensing Sakura's temper bubbling close to the surface. "C-can I help you?" she asked nervously.

"Yes. I want to know where I can wash up and find a clean set of scrubs and I would appreciate it if you or one of your colleagues could inform Doctor Uogami that Sakura Haruno of the Leaf village has arrived and that I have already begun my duties as an extra medic. If he has any further duties for me, it will have to wait until things are more organised," Sakura said firmly.

"Uh, I'm not sure-"

"Look, Maki is it?" Sakura leaned forward over the desk, so that no one would overhear and so she could read the girl's nameplate. "Look around you. There are people bleeding from their eyes and have their limbs bent at impossible angles being forced to stand, it is so crowded in here and there are people dying out in the corridors before a medic has even had a chance to look at them! The Kazekage sent for me to head a team of Konoha's best medical-nins because I'm considered the best after Lady Tsunade herself so I'm not some bumbling new recruit who doesn't know her ass from her elbow. I've already received the file from Gaara outlining what is expected of me and, under current conditions I hardly think a sit-down meeting to go over the same information again is appropriate, do you?"

"N-no."

"Glad that we agree. Now, tell me where to get cleaned up and where I can find fresh scrubs."

"Second door on the left, down the stairs. There's a changing room where you can get cleaned up and changed in. There should be a drawer full of clean scrubs in there." Maki told her quietly.

"Thank you," Sakura replied, smiling sweetly before turning away.

"Um, do you know where you're going after you've changed?" Maki called after her.

Sakura shrugged. "I'll just start from the top and work my way down, shall I?" She asked dryly, gestured at the gurneys lining the corridors.

"Er, yes ma'am." Maki looked down at her paperwork, blushing furiously. "_Bitch,_" she hissed under her breath as Sakura turned and walked away again.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she pulled on a pair of faded maroon scrubs over her shorts and tank top. Maybe she'd been unnecessarily blunt with the receptionist at the doors. It wasn't her fault that Gaara had let things get this bad before asking for outside help, after all. _You're letting your emotions get the better of you again, _she berated herself, making a mental note to apologise to Maki the receptionist at the next opportunity.

Taking a deep breathe to steady her nerves, Sakura left the sanctuary of the changing room and made her way back into the packed corridors. True to her word, she walked to the bottom of the hall, furthest away from the main doors and approached the gurney from where she could hear a young voice crying pitifully for his mother. She glanced at the body lying on the opposite side and pulled the sheet up over the face of a young boy who couldn't have been more that fourteen. She didn't even bother looking for signs of life, the boy's pallor and the stench of the body's final gastric release were enough to tell her that he had been dead for a few hours at least.

On the other gurney lay a second boy who looked more or less the same age as the recently deceased that Sakura had just covered up.

"Hello there. My name is Sakura Haruno," she said gently, smiling down at him. "Can you tell me what your name is?"

"Gota," the boy replied weakly. "Are you going to save me?" he asked hopefully.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Yes I am," she told him, readying her healing jutsu. "Now, can you tell me where it hurts?"

* * *

Five hours later, Sakura collapsed onto a chair in the hospital's staff room, thoroughly exhausted. She'd managed to make some progress with the wounded lining the corridors but there wasn't much more that she could do until she could get onto the actual wards and try to clear some beds for the sick and injured who would need it. She had the sneaking suspicion that there were several patients that could be treated and sent home that day if only there were enough medics to treat them but so far, she had not seen Dr Uogami or a single member of her medical team to even begin trying to organise anything.

She sighed and turned her head to stare longingly at the vending machine on the other side of the room, dearly wishing for something like telekinesis so she could get a drink without having to get back up.

"You look just like I feel," a voice said from behind Sakura, startling her into an upright position. Turning around, she saw a tall middle-aged man standing behind her. He smiled down at her kindly, although the smile didn't seem to reach his tired dark eyes. In his hands were two steaming Styrofoam cups. Sakura sniffed appreciatively as the smell of coffee wafted her way. The man handed her a cup and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Thank you," Sakura murmured, giving her cup a cautionary sniff before taking her first sip. Glancing at her companion, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Force of habit."

The man chuckled. "It's perfectly alright; I would expect nothing less of a trained kunoichi. Especially one that has been trained not only by the great Copy-Ninja Kakashi Hatake but who is the apprentice of the legendary Tsunade."

Sakura glanced at him in surprise, slightly perturbed about this man's apparent knowledge of her.

"You _are _Sakura Haruno right?" The man asked, his smile waning slightly.

"Yes," Sakura replied cautiously. "I didn't catch your name, however."

"That's because I haven't given it yet," the man replied, sipping his coffee. He glanced at her and smiled. "Something that I will remedy. I am Dr Hiro Uogami. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Haruno; I've heard a lot of good things about you"

"Likewise," Sakura replied, inclining her head politely. "But please, call me Sakura."

"Well in that case, please feel free to call me Hiro," Dr Uogami replied. "So what do you think?" He asked. "Are we fighting a losing battle here or can our village be salvaged?"

Sakura shook her head. "Well, you've certainly got a hell of a mess to clean up her, that's for sure," she said. "I think it's fixable though. It won't be easy but we could do it, I'm sure."

The doctor smiled. "That's good to hear," he said, running his hand through his short black hair. Sakura noticed that he was beginning to go grey at the temples and couldn't help but wonder how recent that development was. "So have you got any idea where to begin?" He asked tiredly.

"Well," Sakura replied, taking a sip of her coffee before speaking. "From what I would gather from the mission brief that Gaara – ah, the Kazekage I mean - gave me, my team and I are to first try to whittle down the number of sick and injured patients, and from what I saw out there, we haven't arrived a minute too soon. I was wondering though, where are the members of my medical team?"

"Ah, I think three of them have been placed on the wards where we have a lot of patients with infections and diseases and the other two have been placed on the maternity wards." Hiro smiled grimly. "Yet another problem facing us; Suna appears to be going through a baby boom on top of everything else."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Something that the Kazekage failed to mention," she muttered. "Right, leave those two on the maternity wards for the time being but I would like the other three members of my team in A and E ASAP and as many medics as you can spare from the other wards. If we can get through the A and E department quickly, there'll probably be a lot of patients who we can get well enought o be cared for at home at least and free up a bed for some of the patients waiting in the halls. Oh, we'll need some staff to remove the bodies too. Not only is it unhygienic and unfair to make an injured person spend hours next to a corpse while they're waiting to be treated, but they're taking up unnecessary space."

Hiro stared at her in amazement. "Gods, you don't ask for much, do you?" he remarked dryly. "Alright, I'll have most of your team sent down to A and E and I'll see what I can do regarding the extra medics from the other wards. But I'm making no promises!" He warned, as Sakura smiled triumphantly at him. He drained his cup and threw it in the bin before standing up. "Well, back to the grindstone, I think."

Sakura nodded as she too drained her cup and disposed of it. She headed back into the overcrowded accident and emergency ward, making a quick pit stop for fresh scrubs to replace the ones that one of her patients had bled on prior to Sakura leaving for her break. It was only after she had returned to the ward that Sakura remembered that she hadn't even given herself time to eat lunch. _Oh well,_ she thought, _it won't be the first time that I've gone all day without eating._

Not much later, Sakura heard a polite cough behind her and turned around to see Kodai, Ryouken and Sumiko standing behind her, along with five Suna medics and Dr Uogami. She smiled gratefully at them all. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're here," she told them, eliciting a few smiles from the group before her.

"So what's the plan?" Kodai asked.

"Well, the idea I had was to start with the A and E ward and try to get as many patients as comfortable as possible. Also, I think there are probably a lot of these people who could be treated and sent home today if we can get medics to them quickly enough. After that, we will have to get onto the rest of the wards and see what can be done for those patients in terms of getting more of them home and getting more beds for the people down here who are going to need round the clock care."

"Between us, we've already managed to get a good number of patients to a point where they can be cared for at home over the past week," Sumiko interjected.

Sakura nodded. "That's good to hear," she replied. "Ideally, I would be inclined to keep you three on the wards as much as possible but for this week at least, if it's ok with you Dr Uogami, I want as many medics here as possible. Right now, my priority is to get those corridors completely cleared of the sick and injured but including myself, there are only three medics down here and that just isn't enough."

The group murmured in agreement.

"Where would you like us to start?" Ryouken asked.

Sakura looked around the ward and shrugged. "Wherever you see an unattended patient, I suppose," she replied. She watched as the group dispersed and each medic approached one of the patients before returning to the bedside of the patient that she herself has been in the process of treating.

* * *

Another six hours later, Sakura finally signed herself out and made her way across the road to her apartment building. She groaned and came to a stand-still at her apartment door, remembering that she had no food in her apartment to make herself anything to eat with. Grumbling under her breath, Sakura turned on her heel and marched back the way she'd come, hoping that Suna had a late-hour grocery store, accidentally walking into another person entering the building as she was leaving.

"Sorry," she mumbled, not bothering to look up.

"Sakura?"

Sakura looked back to see Temari standing behin her. "Oh Temari! Hi…sorry, I didn't realise it was you."

"Yeah, I noticed," Temari remarked. "You look exhausted – if you're heading over to see Gaara, I wouldn't bother. He left the office half and hour ago to finish up some more paperwork at home."

Sakura frowned, trying to recall why she would want to see Gaara again. Temari sighed. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Sakura nodded sheepishly, blushing. "I've only just finished five minutes ago, to be honest and it's been a _long _day. I was only going back out in search of food."

Temari looked at Sakura in concern. She wasn't a medic but she'd been in the hospital often enough over the past few weeks to know that Sakura's first day couldn't have been easy. "Tell you what," she said, taking hold of Sakura's elbow and leading her back inside. "Instead of you eating alone tonight, you go back inside, maybe get a shower or something, and _I'll _go pick something up for us both and then you can tell me how you've found you're first day. Ok?"

Sakura nodded, smiling gratefully. "That sounds great," she replied, allowing herself to be herded up the stairs and back into her apartment. Closing the door after Temari, she took the older woman's advice and headed straight for the bathroom to wash away the day's grime.

Half an hour later, she re-emerged from her room, feeling cleaner and more alert, to the mouth-watering smell of pork ramen wafting from the kitchenette. Temari smiled apologetically. "It's only take-away ramen, sorry. Finding a store open late enough for fresh ingredients at this time is a nightmare!"

Sakura shook her head. "No, take-away is fine," she assured Temari. "I would have probably got instant anyway."

She sat down at the table opposite Temari and began to wolf down her noodles.

"That hungry, huh?" Temari laughed.

"Mm-hmm," Sakura mumbled around a mouthful of noodles and pork. "This is the first proper meal I've had since breakfast, it's been that busy!"

Temari pulled a face. "Yeah, I know. It's been pretty hectic at the Kazekage headquarters too. There've been four more attacks in the last week and we need to put together three squads of shinobi that are Chunin level at least!"

"Mm," Sakura mumbled noncommittally. After the day she'd just been subjected to, she was finding it hard to retain any sympathy for Gaara. In fact, it was hard to feel much of anything except bone-crushing weariness. As the warm food settled in her stomach, Sakura could feel her eyelids starting to droop. She looked up in surprise when Temari stood up and began to re-cover and bag her own food. "What's wrong?" She asked, feeling worried that she'd offended her in some way.

Temari smiled as she pulled on her coat. "You're exhausted, Sakura. The last thing you need is me talking your ear off. Eat up, then go to bed, ok? There are Taiyaki cakes in the bag as well, if you feel up them afterwards. See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sakura asked drowsily.

"Yeah, when you see Gaara."

Sakura pulled a face. She _really_ didn't feel like speaking to him anytime soon. "I don't think I'm going to have the time for the next few weeks," she told Temari.

Temari frowned. "I don't think it's something that can wait that long, Sakura," she warned.

Sakura sighed. "I'll see what I can do," she promised, mentally crossing her fingers. Truthfully, she had no intention of seeing Gaara again until she was good and ready. With any luck, she could get through these next eight months having as little to do with him as possible.

"Thank you," Temari sighed in relief. "Well, good night, Sakura."

"'Night," Sakura replied, smiling sweetly until she heard the door click shut and the sound of Temari's heels receding down the corridor. She drained the soup from her bowl and dumped it in the sink.

"Gaara can take his new orders and shove 'em up his ass," she muttered to herself, grabbing the bag of Taiyaki and heading for the bedroom, where she crawled underneath her covers and devoured three of the fish-shaped cakes before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *


	8. Sakura V Gaara: The Words That Wound

**Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters are the promerty of Kishimoto, Shounen Jump, TV Tokyo and Studio Peirrot. Oh, and Viz in the West/ I am merely borrowing them for entertainment purposes and I am making no money from this.**

So...FINALLY an update, after...what is it? over a year? Things got kinda hectic here, what with college, then uni work to concentrate on - not to mention my fickle fangirl side getting temporarily bored of Naruto and moving on the other stuff. I've got some time off now though, so I thought I would get a little more written and you may like to know that I have another chapter almost ready to be uploaded, once it has been proofread again. So...if there is anyone still reading this from last year, I apologise for the epic gao that you've waited and to anyone new...I hope you're anjoying it, and I promise that I'll at least try to get two or three new chapters out before April next year. Also, as you might have guessed, this has now because slightly AU, giving the events that have taken place in the manga since I last updated. Hope thats ok.

Oh! And happy holidays! Hope you all keep safe and well this festive period. ^_^

Chapter 8

As it would turn out, there would have been no opportunity for Sakura to make good on her promise to Temari, even if she _had_ been sincere. For the rest of the week, and well into the following week, Sakura found herself putting in twelve, sometimes even thirteen hour shifts with barely enough time to eat and sleep – or at least that's how it often felt to her. On top of working her butt off trying to heal as many patients as was feasibly possible, on her third day there, several teams of shinobi returned home _en masse_, with over half of them wounded in one way or another. One minute, Sakura walked through a relatively calm waiting room on her way for a coffee break; next thing she knew, it was like all hell had broken loose!

So now, much of Sakura's and Dr Uogami's time was spent trying desperately to find beds on the wards for the patients who needed them and treat all patients before their condition had time to worsen. Sakura knew that it was only a matter of time before Gaara's patience ran out and she was frog-marched by Temari or one of his other guards to Kazekage headquarters to face him, if the increasing number of written reminders, requests and – lately – demands to attend a meeting with him that Sakura came home to every evening was anything to go by.

On the one hand, Sakura did want to get the whole thing over with before Gaara resorted to such means. But on the other, Sakura was almost dreading finally facing him after first shouting at him, then blatantly ignoring his request, despite the fact that he was technically her superior. On the Thursday of her second week, Sakura sighed as she looked around the clean and quiet ward that she was on. She smiled and bade farewell to the young woman she had just discharged fifteen minutes ago. It looked like she had no excuse anymore to keep putting things off, now that things were currently back under control.

"Satoshi," she signalled to one of the medics on the ward with her and called him over. "when you get a minute, could you change the sheets on that bed ready for Miss Takahashi's transfer from the Intensive Care unit, please?"

Leaving the younger medic to his business, Sakura left the ward for the Intensive Care wards to sort out the patient's paperwork detailing her condition and treatment. She was intercepted in the corridor however by a very anxious-looking Sumiko. "Sakura, you're needed in accident and emergency," she said, pulling her by the arm through the hallways in the direction of the accident and emergency wards.

"Why, what's happened?" Sakura asked, pulling her arm out of Sumiko's grasp and keeping pace with her.

"Another team of wounded Shinobi have just arrived in pretty bad shape," Sumiko replied.

"Any identification?"

"Two of them are the Kazekage's brother and student and they're both in pretty bad shape. Dr Uogami's already looking at Kankuro, but Matsuri still needs tending to and all the other superior medics are all too busy."

"OK, lead me to her," Sakura replied, dropping her handful of paperwork on the nearest desk and rushing after the junior medic.

_I just hope I don't run into Gaara while I'm there _she thought as they resumed walking. Approaching Matsuri's room, Sakura couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she say it was Temari standing by the door and not her brother.

"Sakura! Thank the gods Sumiko found you!" Temari exclaimed, pulling her into the room. "She's been beat up pretty badly, Sakura; Kankuro said she got hurt trying to protect one of the Chunin sent with them."

"Does anyone know when she lost consciousness?" Sakura asked, pulling on protective gloves before beginning her examination of Matsuri's injuries. They were pretty extensive, from what Sakura could see. She had several minor facial injuries, although Sakura was concerned that if they didn't move fast, that gash on the younger girl's cheek would leave a permanent scar. Working her way down, Sakura ascertained a broken arm, some possible tendon damage around Matsuri's right knee and, most worryingly, severe chest injuries. At least someone had already seen fit to put her on a high-flow breathing device, but Sakura didn't think that it would be enough.

"According to the younger boy with them, she didn't wake up this morning when they were preparing to set off again, so I would assume it was at some point during the night," Sumiko replied.

Sakura nodded. "I see." She glanced over her shoulder at Temari hovering at the bottom of the bed. "Temari, why don't you go get some tea or something and go into the waiting room until we're done here? I'll let you know how she is as soon as we're finished, ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Sorry." Temari grimaced self-consciously. "I'm getting in the way, aren't I?"

"No, not a t all," Sakura reassured her quickly. "I just thought you would be more comfortable in the waiting room. Besides, we might have to move her down to surgery so you would have to leave anyway for that."

Just then, a young medic knocked and entered the room. "Temari, your brother is awake and is asking for you," she said politely. "Also, the Kazekage has just arrived and requests a report on the condition of the rest of the team..." She glanced uneasily between Temari and Sakura, not entirely sure who the last part of the message was for.

"Dr Uogami should have the information regarding whoever else has been admitted," Sakura replied. "Is he still with Kankuro?" She asked the medic.

"Yes, Miss Sakura," the girl replied. "Or he was when I left, anyway."

"He won't be very far then, if he's already gone when you arrive," Sakura said, looking at Temari. "If you can't find him though, Dr Tanaka should be somewhere on the ward, so she might be able to tell you what you need to know. I'll send word on Matsuri's condition once we have treated her and I am satisfied that she is stable and comfortable."

Temari looked at Sakura and was about to warn her that Gaara would probably want to talk to her face-to-face, then she glanced down at Matsuri lying pale and frail-looking on the bed and decided that it would best if she left Sakura to do her job instead of nagging her on Gaara's behalf.

"So what's the diagnosis?" Sumiko asked when Sakura had finished her examination.

"She appears to have several broken ribs and a potentially punctured or deflated lung. Also, her left arm is broken and there appears to be some damage to her right knee," Sakura replied, preparing the healing jutsu. "I can heal the obvious wounds on her face and arms, and reduce the damage and inflammation around the broken bones, but I won't be able to go any further until X-rays confirm what's happening with her lungs and her knee."

"I'll go and prepare the x-ray equipment then," Sumiko replied, walking towards the door.

"Thanks. She'll also need a resuscitation device as soon as possible, and I'm probably going to need at least four more medics to help heal that chest injury," Sakura told the younger medic as she began to heal the gash across Matsuri's face. _So much for things __getting easier around here, _she thought wistfully.

"So the whole mission was a set-up?" Gaara asked incredulously.

"So it would seem," Kankuro replied. "I'm surprised we all made it out of there with our lives, to be honest."

"Yeah well, don't speak too soon," Gaara warned him. "Just because you're going to make a full recovery doesn't mean that the rest of your team will be as lucky."

"Right."

Both men looked up when the door slid open and Temari entered the room, followed by Dr Uogami and a young Sand shinobi medic.

"Kankuro!" Temari exclaimed, rushing to his side. "Thank the gods you're alright!"

"Well, doctor, what are the conditions of the rest of Kankuro's squad?" Gaara asked, feeling slightly disgruntled that it wasn't Sakura accompanying Temari.

"Daisuke and Kaede are recovering nicely. They both have minor injuries and were suffering from acute exhaustion and depleted chakra levels but given a couple of day's rest, they should both be as good as new-"

"And due a promotion, I might add," Kankuro interrupted pointedly.

"What about Matsuri?" Gaara asked, nodding at his brother in acknowledgement to his recommendation.

"Miss Sakura was still treating her when we left," the young medic butted in. She blushed and stared at the floor when the rest of the room's inhabitants turned and looked at her. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright," Gaara replied, who had forgotten that the girl was still there until she'd spoken up. "Tell me, what was her condition?"

The girl blushed an even deeper red at being the centre of the room's attention. "I um, I-I-I d-don't...I mean, she didn't look very good when I saw her but we didn't stay very long but, um..."

"Sakura mentioned something about a chest injury," Temari said, cutting the young girl off, much to the medic's visible relief. "You'll probably have to hunt Sakura down if you want all the details though."

"Huh!" Gaara snorted. "Like I'm gonna be able to do that, with her avoiding me like the plague recently."

"Uh, am I missing something?" Kankuro asked, bemused.

"Nothing important," Temari replied, plonking herself down on Kankuro's bed and making herself comfortable. "Come on then, fill me in on what happened out there."

"If there is nothing more I can do for you, I should get back to the wards," Dr Uogami cut in politely.

Gaara nodded his permission. "Thank you, Doctor."

"If there is anything that you need, just buzz," the young medic told them. She bowed and followed Uogami out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"So," Temari said, turning back to her brother. "Tell me everything."

"Matsuri's condition has improved and the worst of her injuries have been healed. She should begin to regain consciousness over the next hour of so but she will still need to remain in the hospital for the next few days just to make sure that her chest injury has fully healed and she won't be able to put too much strain on her right knee for a couple of weeks but she should make a full recovery," Sakura informed Dr Tanaka, one of the senior doctors at the hospital. She had the bedside manner of a thorn bush in Sakura's opinion, but she was a good doctor, perhaps even better that Dr Uogami. She nodded now as she listened to Sakura's prognosis.

"Very good, Miss Haruno," she replied, taking the file containing Matsuri's records from Sakura. She hadn't been overly optimistic when she had first heard that the Kazekage was bringing in a medic barely out of her teens from another village to help get the hospital back under control and train up the new recruits but so far the young woman had proven herself to be an exceptionally skilled and efficient medic despite her youth. _A credit to the Hokage Tsunade as her teacher, I suppose, _she mused. "I will have one of the trainees prepare a bed on ward four for her and if there are any changes to her condition I will be sure to have to informed immediately."

"Thank you, Dr Tanaka," Sakura replied, bowing politely before taking her leave. _Time for a break, _she thought, glancing at the clock on her way out. Readjusting her headband, she turned the corner and began to make her way to the cafeteria, unaware that Kankuro was being cared for in one of the rooms lining this corridor until she saw an unwelcomingly familiar red-headed figure step out of one of the rooms. Sakura stood frozen for a split-second, unsure whether to continue walking and let him see her or turn and run away until she felt better prepared to face him. Opting for the latter, she quickly turned on her heel and walked the other way, hoping against hope that he wouldn't spot her.

Hearing the hissed intake of breath behind him, Gaara turned around in time to see Sakura's rapidly retreating back marching away from him.

"Sakura?" he called, taking a few steps in her direction as she appeared to quicken her pace. "Sakura!"

But she had already disappeared around the corner. Swearing under his breath, Gaara leaned back into his brother's room. "Would you excuse me for a second, there's someone I need to see," he said grimly before stalking down the corridor, oblivious to the apprehensive expressions on the hospital staff's faces as they hastily moved out of his way.

Sakura sighed as she sagged against the wall of the elevator. _You coward, _she thought angrily, punching the button for the ground floor. _You utter coward! You're gonna have to face him eventually so you'd better pull yourself together, Sakura Haruno, and get it over with! _she scolded herself, waiting for the doors to shut, breathing a sigh of relief as they began to slide shut. But just as they were half-closed, the control panel beeped and the doors slid open again to let a second person into the lift. Sakura looked up and unsuccessfully attempted to swallow a squeak of fright when she saw who it was.

"Gaara!"

In response, Gaara silently crossed him arms across his chest and stared at Sakura, waiting for her to begin spluttering out explanations.

As the doors slid shut behind him, effectively sealing Sakura up in a far-too-small a space with a pretty pissed-off Kazekage, she nervously chewed on her lower lip and began to take a step back. Catching herself, she slowly put her foot down and made do with wrapping her arms around her body, glancing around the elevator and attempting not to meet Gaara's eyes. The tension was so thick she felt like she could cut it with a knife. Risking a glance at Gaara's face, Sakura quickly looked down at her shoes again. _Stop staring at me like that! _

Barely even blinking, Gaara's gaze continued to bore into Sakura's skull, just waiting for her to crack and break the silence first.

As the silence and tension mounted, for one moment Sakura had to quell the insane urge to laugh. She cleared her throat nervously and, taking a deep breath, looked up into Gaara's eyes.

"Good afternoon, Lord Kazekage!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed as Sakura presented him with a low bow. He watched her as she clasped her hands together and twisted her fingers nervously.

"Um, I heard from Dr Tanaka that Kankuro will make a full recovery after a couple of days bed rest and taking it easy for the next few weeks. That's good to hear. Um. If I get the time between patients I'll, erm, look in on him and see how he's feeling..." Sakura trailed off. The atmosphere in the room had changed drastically. She felt like she could almost see the waves of pent-up anger rolling off of Gaara. This time she really did take a step back – several, in fact. The rest of the elevator ride passed without another word being passed between them, both afraid to even breath too loud for fear of what Gaara might do to her.

Walking through the corridors to the empty staff room on the ground floor of the hospital, Sakura could feel Gaara's eyes boring into the back of her skull as he followed her in, his stony silence so oppressive it was like a third person was in the room. She jumped as she heard the door slam shut, hard enough to rattle the doorframe and the accumulated plates and cup on the benches. She glanced over her shoulder at Gaara leaning silently against the wall with an expression not unlike his old habitual hateful axpression back when she first met him. Gulping, Sakura quickly looked away and began busying herself with making herself a drink. She hoped he could see her hands shaking from where he was standing.

"Tea? Coffee?" She asked, trying desperately to ease the oppressive atmosphere gathering around them. When she got no reply, she sighed. "I'll take that as a 'no' then."

Gaara watched her silently while she finished making her own drink then walk across the room, where she perched on the edge of the couch, sipping her coffee.

"I heard that you wanted to see me but things have been so busy since I started. But seeing as it's a bit quieter now, I was thinking about stopping by your office tonight when I finished," Sakura informed the contents of her cup.

"Really?"

Sakura glanced up in startled surprise at the sound of his voice.

"Y-yeah, I was," she stammered, looking away again. The look in his eyes was making her feel decidedly nervous.

"Is that why you just practically ran away from me just now?"

"I-I didn't!" Sakura exclaimed, her face going red with shame at being caught out.

"Sakura, I don't think even Rock Lee could have got off that ward any faster than you did just now!"

"I was busy!"

"So busy you couldn't even spare a minute to even acknowledge me?" Gaara asked, his voice rising.

"How could I do that if I didn't see you?" Sakura retorted.

"That's crap and you know it!" Gaara snapped, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a snarl. "I called out to you and you ran away as if you had a pack of Oni chasing after you!"

"I-I didn't hear you," Sakura murmured, staring at a spot on the floor by his feet.

Gaara stared at her in disbelief, more surprised at her audacity to tell him such a bare-faced lie to his face than anything else. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" He asked incredulously.

"I'm telling you the truth!" Sakura insisted, her cheeks flushing an even deeper shade of red.

"Sakura, has no one ever told you that you're the world's worst liar?" Gaara asked, fighting to stay calm.

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are!" Gaara shouted. "You're still doing it! And you know what makes it worse? What makes it all the more insulting? The fact that you are so _bad _at it, and yet you still expect me to believe you!" Closing the gap between them, Gaara leaned down towards her and planted his hands on either side of her body, effectively trapping Sakura on the couch. Scuttling back as far as she could get and pulling her knees up to her chest, Sakura stared into Gaara's furious eyes nervously.

"I've encountered some pretty rude and disrespectful people in my time since I became Kazekage but YOU!" Gaara shook his head in disgust. "You're really something else, Sakura. How foolish of me to expect better from you." Pushing away from the couch, he turned his back on her and stalked to the window. He could see Sakura reflected in the glass and watched her as she blinked back tears, hastily wiping away the few that fell.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You're right, I have been unspeakably rude to you since I arrived and I apologise for that. But I was not lying when I told you that the past few weeks have been eating up all of my time."

"I understand that things have been hectic around here lately – probably even better than you, seeing as how I've been the one desperately trying to scrape together enough teams for all of the missions that we have had coming in. But that is still no excuse to blatantly disobey a direct order than has come from your superior." Gaara replied tersely.

"No excuse!" Sakura exclaimed. "Gaara, for the past week and a half, me and my team have had barely enough time to eat and sleep between trying to fix the damn mess this place was in, never mind me trying to squeeze in an hour to attend to your demands!"

"Welcome to my world, Sakura," Gaara said sarcastically. "Because that is what my life has been like, day in and day out for the past _five months!_ So you'll excuse me if I don't have much sympathy for you."

"Yeah well, maybe if you'd actually done your job properly and, oh I don't know, asked for help sooner before things got this bad, instead of just blindly believing that you Sand shinobi are too damn good to ask for outside help and sticking your fingers in your ears, hoping that it'll go away, then maybe you wouldn't be in this mess!" Sakura snapped, thoughtlessly lashing out before she could stop herself. Realising what she had just said, she gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth.

Gaara spun round and stared at her wide-eyed, a wounded expression on his face. Sakura stared back him, aghast at what she'd just said. Coughing, Gaara looked down at the ground. "Well, now that we're clear where we stand with each other." he said quietly.

"Gaara, I-"

"Kazekage," Gaara corrected. "Subordinates should not be so informal with their superiors."

Sakura bit her lip and bowed her head. "Yes sir. My apologies, sir."

"You will come to the Kazekage tower tomorrow morning at eight thirty sharp. If you do not attend, then I will have no choice but to send armed guards to come and collect you. That is all."

"But what about my shift here?" Sakura asked.

"I'm sure the hospital won't fall into ruin without you for one morning," Gaara snapped. He strode across the room, wanting desperately to get away from her now before he said or did something he'd regret. His hand was on the handle when he heard her voice behind him.

"Lord Kazekage, before you go, I am truly sorry for what I said. It was thoughtless and I didn't mean it," Sakura said contritely.

Gaara turned and met her gaze. "Yes you did," he told her tiredly, "yes, you did."

Then he was gone.

The rest of Sakura's day after that encounter passed in a blur. Miraculously, for the first time since she arrived, she finished work at five on the dot. Not that it made much difference to her, except giving her more time to dwell on yet another disastrous encounter with Gaara. She kept flashing back to the hurt expression in his eyes before he had left.

Lying in bed later that night, sleep eluding her as she played the afternoon over and over in her mind and slowly got herself more and more nervous for the following morning's meeting, Sakura finally gave up the ghost of getting any sort of sleep and pulled herself out of bed and rooted around for a blank scroll in her pack. Sitting back on the bed, Sakura spread the scroll in front of her and bit the tip of her thumb until the skin broke so she could perform the toad-summoning jutsu.

"What," the disgruntled voice of Gamakichi said through the cloud of smoke, "kind of time to you call this for summoning someone from their sleep? This had better be life and death or I swear, heads are gonna roll!"

Sakura chuckled. "Well, I guess I'm in trouble then," she said, waving away remaining traces of smoke.

"Oh, it's you," Gamakichi said. "So you checkin' in for an update, Pinky?"

"Um, sort of," Sakura replied, a fresh rush of guilt washing over her as she remembered the dire situation that her team mates had been in last she'd heard. "Truthfully, I guess I just needed someone to talk to."

"And you instantly thought of me? Aw, I'm touched!" Gamakichi replied.

"To be honest, you're probably the _only _friend I've got left that I can talk to right now," Sakura sighed. "I did something really stupid today - no, more than stupid; something really awful to Gaara. I said some terrible things that I shouldn't have."

"What did ya do, insult his mother or something?"

Sakura shook her head and told him the whole story, from their previous fight over Kakashi up to the row that they'd had that day. When she had finished, the toad give a low whistle. "Jeez, you really screwed up, huh? I'd wager that he's probably gonna send you packing after a stunt like that."

"Thanks," Sakura replied dryly.

"No seriously! Wow, talk about a mess!"

"Is this what you call comfort?"

"Sorry. Well I guess on the plus side, if he does send you packing, at least you'll get to go home sooner," Gamakichi offered.

"Yeah, and face Tsunade's wrath when she finds out why I got sent back," Sakura reminded him.

"Yeah, that's true," Gamakichi mused. "Well, there's nothing else for it; you're officially screwed."

"Thanks, Gamakichi, that's very supportive," Sakura remarked sarcastically.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for!" Gamakichi replied, deliberately missing her sarcasm.

Shaking her head, Sakura laughed softly. "You're incorrigible," she told him fondly. "So do you have any sort of update for me? Anything at all about Naruto and Kakashi and the others?"

"No, not really," Gamakichi replied. "Last I heard, Naruto was out of hospital and the girl with the big tits was helping him recover. I don't know what's happening with Kakashi, but I guess he must still be hanging in there, otherwise I would have known about it."

"Well that's something, at least," Sakura said, flopping back on the bed.

"Yeah, I guess." Gamakichi said. "Um, Pinky, I know you probably wanna talk some more but d'ya think that maybe you could let me go back to bed now?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry, go ahead." Sakura said. "Night."

After he was gone, Sakura lay still, staring at the ceiling. Eventually though, sleep began to finally pull at her eyes as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

So...now you've reached the end of that chapter, let me know what you think. Especially regarding Gaara - I know I'm writting him nicer and more adjusted what with the time skip I'm working in but let me know how believable he is and any suggestions you might have. Also, how are you liking the way I'm developing Gaara and Sakura's relationship? As well as anything else you might want to critique.


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